RALEIGH, N.C. -- The state Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered a district court judge to restore references to God in the words said when he enters the courtroom and when witnesses who swear to tell the truth.
In an order signed by Chief Justice I. Beverly Lake Jr., the court sided with officials from Davidson and Iredell counties, who complained that Judge James M. Honeycutt had taken it upon himself to change courtroom procedures set down in state law.
The court ordered Honeycutt to stop using an oath he had revised himself to remove the phrase "so help you God," and administer the oath that is spelled out in state law. Honeycutt also had stopped asking that the oath be sworn on a Bible.
Though the standard oath in court includes references to God, state law also allows that "when a person to be sworn shall have conscientious scruples against taking an oath" he may instead "affirm" that he is...