The US air force has told an atheist airman he must swear his re-enlistment oath to God or he will not be allowed to reenlist, according to the American Humanist.

The airman, who is stationed at Creech air force base in Nevada, has not been identified. The service said he has until November to swear the oath required of all servicemembers, which concludes with the phrase “so help me God”.



The American Humanist Association said in a letter to the air force (pdf) last week that the officer was told that he either had to say the phrase or leave the service. The airman has previously crossed out the phrase in a written contract and refused to say it out loud, and was told August 25 that the contract would therefore not be accepted for re-enlistment.



The group believes the oath as currently required is a violation of the airman’s constitutional rights under the first amendment and demanded that he be allowed to re-enlist without using the phrase.



US law requires the phrase to be included in the oath given to all servicemembers, though its implementation is left to each branch of the military. Air force members could omit the phrase until the service updated its directive on the oath in October 2013. Before that, the instruction for the oath included the phrase: “Airmen may omit the words ‘so help me God,’ if desired for personal reasons.”



The air force has said it cannot change the rule without congressional action.



“The right to omit these words is not only recognized by the courts, but has also been recognized by the air force itself,” the AHA said in the letter. AHA lawyer Monica Miller said the group will sue if he is not allowed to reenlist without including “so help me God” in the oath.



The air force did not respond to the Guardian’s request for comment, but told Air Force Times that the airman has until November, when his terms of service expire, to swear his oath with the phrase included.



Air force spokesperson Rose Richeson also told the news site that the air force is asking the Defense Department to review the rule. “The opinion will help inform the future decision,” Richeson said.

The full text of the oath is:

“I, ____________________, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.”

This battle echoes still brewing controversies over the inclusion of God in US government-sanctioned settings.

The inclusion of “under God” in the pledge of allegiance, which is recited in some public schools across the US, is routinely challenged. The most prominent challenge came in 2004, when a father’s lawsuit against the inclusion of the phrase made its way to the supreme court. The nation’s highest court overturned the ruling on procedural grounds.

