Last week, Dave Gruber, a member of the Aurora City Council in Colorado, tweeted this surprise statement. He claimed that the council was planning to “remove God” from the Oath of Office — via a resolution called “Removing GOD from Oath of Office” — by replacing the words “SO HELP ME GOD” with “faithfully perform the duties of office.”

Aurora City Council called a meeting for 4:00 Monday with a proposal to change the Oath of Office and remove God. A previous council created the oath we now use. If you want Council to keep the current oath, please email citycouncil@auroragov.org. pic.twitter.com/lYsADZCYUL — Dave Gruber (@gruberforaurora) March 27, 2020

Two things about that.

1) They should absolutely switch from the religious oath to a secular affirmation. It’s legal, it’s inclusive, and there’s nothing wrong with the revision. If people want to add God to the oath, they’re welcome to do so.

2) Gruber made the whole thing up. There’s no resolution. He affixed the city’s logo to a document he created in order to stir up resentment against his colleagues. He’s a liar.

What’s actually happening is that this issue was up for discussion at Monday’s meeting, but there wasn’t going to be a vote. They just wanted feedback on the idea, according to Conor McCormick-Cavanagh at Westword:

According to [Councilwoman Nicole] Johnston [who chairs the Rules Committee], over the last few weeks members of council have been considering a range of ways of altering the oath, which was adopted by an earlier council. The God-less version of the oath that Gruber included in his document is actually language that comes directly from the city charter, which was approved in 1961. The Aurora city attorney and clerk had sent this wording to members of council so that they could refer to it when considering any changes. The version of the oath with the word “God” in it, which Gruber wants to keep, was created after the city charter was adopted; it was written by members who are no longer on the city council. At the March 30 Rules Committee meeting, current councilmembers were going to continue discussing whether the oath should be changed but not vote on anything, Johnston says.

They eventually postponed that discussion because of more pressing issues… so Gruber, the liar, took credit for it.

As of 3:06 today, Council has decided to postpone this meeting indefinitely. Also, before having a Council vote on the topic of removing God from our oath, Council will host a session for the public to voice their comments.

Thanks for your emails. You made the difference. — Dave Gruber (@gruberforaurora) March 27, 2020

They won’t be discussing this until the pandemic has subsided, which is sensible. It’s not because of emails inspired by a conservative Christian who wants to force his religion upon everyone who takes the oath.

When they finally get around to it, they should ignore his whining. He’s wrong on the issue. He’s so wrong that the only way he can get people on his side is by making things up.

(Screenshot via Facebook. Thanks to Brian for the link)

