ABSTRACT
The oath is still a formality in courts of law, though its power has come to depend on fear of prosecution for perjury more than fear of eternal damnation. An explosion does not have power or force, but yield. A small fighting force was able to win over larger and larger segments of the population by attacking the abuses of power and sparing the lesser individuals supporting it. No society could endure that made deception the rule; and the dissemination of news everywhere one of the most powerful institutions survives only to the extent that it is believed to be truth-telling. The oath has been the purpose of swearing on sacred things, such oaths 'induce witnesses, especially the ignorant and superstitious, to give evidence more truthfully'. The conscience is implanted when children are punished for deception, and authorities that replace the parents in later life continue to encourage the idea that it is wicked to lay.
