Section 38: Oath of office Section 38. Whoever is admitted as an attorney shall in open court take and subscribe the oaths to support the constitution of the United States and of the commonwealth; and the following oath of office shall be administered to and subscribed by him: I (repeat the name) solemnly swear that I will do no falsehood, nor consent to the doing of any in court; I will not wittingly or willingly promote or sue any false, groundless or unlawful suit, nor give aid or consent to the same; I will delay no man for lucre or malice; but I will conduct myself in the office of an attorney within the courts according to the best of my knowledge and discretion, and with all good fidelity as well to the courts as my clients. So help me God. Any politician who puts the "will of god" over the "will of the people" is violating their oath of office. Here in the People's Republic of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for example, all officials are required to take the following oath in a general form: "I, , do solemnly swear that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and will support the constitution thereof and the constitution of the United States, that I will obey the lawful orders of all my superior officers, and that I w ill faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent on me as ___ according to the best of my ability and understanding, agreeably to the rules and regulations of the constitution and the laws of the commonwealth and the United States. So help me, God. (source)" There are lots of religious-adjacent words in there: "true faith", "faithfully" "obey" etc, but these are directed at the State's laws, Constitution, and an official's duties... not a higher power. God is mentioned in the final clause, but if it can be called a prayer at all, it is requesting a deity's "help" doing the above, not superseding the laws and duties set forth by humans. If at any point an official has to say "I can't do this, it isn't the will of my god" they need to resign because the job they signed up for HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE SUPERNATURAL. If an elected official claims religious ecstasy has moved them to vote in a way that is demonstrably against the will of the people, they need to stop pretending to be a representative of that will and step down. Will this happen? Nope. But maybe if we can frame the discussion around why these nutjobs are not representing the will of the people like they are supposed to, it will start to stick to them as agnostics and believers of different faiths go to the polls.

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