It obviously doesn’t, and people do lie in court all the time in both fiction and reality. The bible, or whatever they happen to use as a stand-in, is just ceremonial for the oath of sworn testimony. The real threat that keeps people from lying is not hellfire and damnation, it’s perjury.
How come in movies tv shows books etc at court they make it seem like swearing on the bible prevents you from lieing? If my family or I was in danger I would lie my ass off to get out of it..
Submitted 2 days ago by Patnou@lemmy.world to [deleted]
Comments
Furbag@lemmy.world 2 days ago
southsamurai@sh.itjust.works 2 days ago
It’s a social more, nothing more ;)
In other words, it doesn’t matter what you swear by, it’s the open swearing that matters in terms of legality. See, the oath is what makes perjury prosecution “acceptable”. When a witness is sworn in, the process isn’t so much about them actually promising to tell the truth as it is a warning to them that truth is expected and will be enforced.
Yeah, historically, there’s more to it than that, but it boils down to everyone involved knowing that truth is expected, and lying comes with consequences (well, if you get caught at it, and can’t avoid those consequences in some way. The system ain’t perfect at its best, and is rarely at its best).
Swearing on a bible is just tradition based on centuries of christians and christianity being in power. You can opt to “affirm” instead, giving an non religious oath that is just a binding.
But, in any real terms, an oath isn’t necessary to begin with. When the system/state/government/people have the power to punish you for lying, they don’t even really have to notify you that lying will come with consequences. Doing so is a nicety that at least prevents anyone from being able to say they didn’t know they couldn’t lie. Not that trying it in the absence of an oath would be worth spit, but it saves time.
But having an expectation of truth under duress is a cultural thing. And it can be a form of duress. You can be compelled to appear and give testimony, with consequences got refusing. In other situations, being under duress can be a defense against a charge, though the standard for what degree of threat serves to meet that criteria is pretty steep. But it’s an understood thing that you aren’t supposed to lie during legal proceedings. It doesn’t have to be that way, but it certainly does make it easier to have a degree of conformity to the truth among people that might otherwise lie.
OriginEnergySux@lemmy.world 2 days ago
Me: “I fucking swear to tell the fucking truth and nothing but the fucking truth so help me cunt”
Judge: “get him out of here”
Zwuzelmaus@feddit.org 2 days ago
Judge: “Bring in the four black giants and have them stand behind him!”
Reygle@lemmy.world 1 day ago
“I’ll tell you as much truth as the people who wrote that fuckin’ book!” -George Carlin
phr@discuss.tchncs.de 2 days ago
it is a real threat.
there are different tiers of punishment for lies. if you swore to tell the truth, but demonstrably lied, this will f up your life further.
FinjaminPoach@lemmy.world 2 days ago
Swearing on the bible isn’t to prevent you from lying, it’s putting the “no more lying from this point onwards” into effect, in other words activating the perjury rule.
SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 days ago
I mean, I would just swear on Carl Sagan’s The Demon Haunted World.
kittenzrulz123@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 day ago
I mean have you seen any of the Phoenix Wright games? Or better call saul? Or honestly many form of media depicting lawyers blatantly lying to the judge and then getting sentanced to prison on the spot? (Yes I know that’s not even remotely realistic but most media isn’t)
elevenbones@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
Believe it or not, straight to to hell…
AFKBRBChocolate@lemmy.ca 2 days ago
Deeply religious folks often believe that if you swear on a bible to tell the truth, then lie, you’ll go to hell. If you aren’t religious, it means nothing. For others it’s a spectrum in between.
msokiovt@lemmy.today 2 days ago
It’s actually not so realistic, except for transactional justice.
tyrant@lemmy.world 2 days ago
And the prosecution will find this post and show it to the judge or jury in an extremely large font
CameronDev@programming.dev 2 days ago
It doesn’t, and people do lie in court. It’s a relic of a time when people supposedly were afraid of going to hell.
CmdrShepard49@sh.itjust.works 2 days ago
Yes I’ve experienced cops lying in court numerous times along with prosecutors just blatantly making things up. Perjury may be a crime but its rarely enforced especially not against agents of the state.
Thedogdrinkscoffee@lemmy.ca 2 days ago
Today’s techno-industrial marvels now make it possible to make hell on earth. Climate change is but one small facet of the terraforming project.
CameronDev@programming.dev 2 days ago
Hell may be a step up, certainly sounds a bit better organised…