Dr. Robert Groves
Director
U.S. Census Bureau

As directors of organizations committed to the rights of humanists, atheists, and other freethinkers, a number of us have received complaints from persons who were hired by the U.S. Census or sought Federal employment as Census workers. They complain that they were asked to take a religious oath that ends in "so help me God."

We, the undersigned, write to urge you to remove such superfluous and divisive language from the oath you administer. As it stands this practice leads hirees and applicants to believe that Census has a religious test for public office in violation of U.S. Constitution, Article VI, and clause: "no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States." The oath is harmful to those who do not believe in a monotheist god because it implies that the non-believer cannot get the job without taking the oath or would lose his or her job if their lack of religious belief were discovered by management. Moreover, the oath has the effect of stigmatizing non-monotheists as outsiders.

The Census does not require the use of phrase "so help me God" as seen in the Census' Guide for Training Enumeration, which states that the "so help me God" phrase is not required and may be crossed out. Notwithstanding that the cross-out option is available, by having to ask in front of Census officials and other new hirees with whom they would be working in the future, those who object to this religious practice expose themselves to religion-based prejudice going forward. Consequently, the oath has a substantial coercive effect upon Census applicants.

Accordingly, we respectfully request "so help me God" be deleted from the oath administered by Census.

Signed by: