This post is bound to get me some comments, since it's perhaps a little more controversial than how high a C6-5 engine will launch my MaxxTraxx. :-)

For reasons obscure, I've begun to read the Gospels, starting naturally enough with Matthew.  Commentary on that may come another day, but my preliminary take is that Jesus layed out some stuff pretty clearly, like divorce = adultery, ANY swearing is bad, and by this I mean "I swear I won't...", not the normal sort of cursing, like when you stub your toe, etc.  So no divorce (except if the woman is unfaithful, it would seem - Jesus admits this one exception), and especially no swearing on stuff.

Like the Bible.

It's probably easiest to just insert a quote at this point, taken from the NIV Bible:

Matthew 33"Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.' 34But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God's throne; 35or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. 36And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. 37Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.

I find it ironic that Jesus pretty much out and says that swearing on a stack of Bibles is breaking a commandment, yet courts insist on making people do it anyway.  Atheists and nonchristians find it insulting, and by Jesus's own words, Christians should refuse to do it also.  Although there was no Bible at the time Jesus said these things, one can easily imagine him adding, "or by the Bible, for it is His word" or something like that.

I guess you could make an argument about the "oaths you have made to the Lord" being the "So help me God" part, but it still seems fishy, as Jesus appears to be making a correction to the old laws here and in other passages near this one.

Another interesting concept I've run across that is peripherally related to this is the idea that using a Bible for swearing is equivalent to Idolatry, since it imbues the book itself with mystical powers.  I tend to agree with that as well, but it's a matter of opinion.