And speaking of oaths:

In the Torah there are at least three main types of oaths. There was one known as the "Salt Covenant". Salt was a scarce commodity in that day and one can not live without it. Those folks carried their salt in a little leather pouch usually worn like a necklace. If a salt covenant was made the two men (only men could make an oath) would take and mingle their salt together and then reapportion it and say something like "until you can separate your salt from mine our pact stays in effect". Pretty neat, eh?

Another most solemn and irreversible oath was the "Blood Covenant" which involved the sacrifice of an animal and halving it and passing between the halves. It is rather involved and heavy with symbolism and theology which I'd rather not get involved with at this point. Needless to say it was very permanently binding.

There are others but the third one I wanted to mention can be seen in Jacob's final blessing of his children. The KJV has it that they grasped each others thighs but what it really involved was each participant would take hold of each others scrotum and swear by the "sack of life". You may laugh but the practice was quite widespread in the day and for most of history in Greece and the Middle Eastern environs. It is where we get our word "testimony" from, the testicles. Why couldn't the presidential oath of office involve something like that? Attendance would be WAY up!

In the Book of Mathew, chapter 5, verse 33 and on Jesus is saying, "Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, 'Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths' But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God's throne: Nor by earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. But let your communication be 'Yea,yea; Nay,nay' for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil."

So there! I agree with the atheists. Skip the "...so help me God." Unless the person is truly seeking God's help. And if that IS the case, she or he doesn't need to make a public spectacle of it. They can seek out God in the privacy of their own hearts, away from the camera and the crowds.