Officers, residents upset with removal of 'God' from police oath
By The Associated Press
09.30.02
HONOLULU — Some Honolulu police officers say they are upset that the phrase "so help me God" has been removed from their oath of office.
Police Chief Lee Donohue said Sept. 23 recruits would no longer recite those words when being sworn in at graduation because they are not included in the oath as it is written in the state Constitution.
The action was in response to a complaint from Hawaii Citizens for the Separation of State and Church.
Leland Cadoy, the Honolulu Police Department's 2002 Officer of the Year, said the removal "takes away our freedom to worship."
Officer Ramona Loo said officers should have the chance to recite an alternate phrase. "They're taking away choice," she said.
Cadoy said his complaint is not with Donohue but with the citizens group.
Removing "God" from the oath to protect the rights of citizens who believe in other deities or no religion harms those who do believe in God, Cadoy said.
He said he would like to see the issue taken to a vote.
Neither Cadoy nor Loo has asked Donohue to reconsider. They said they are expressing their individual views and are not aware of any organized movement to keep "so help me God" in the oath.
Meanwhile, the police department has been flooded with e-mails, calls and letters, urging it to retain the phrase in its oath.
"Our Web site has received 3,600 e-mails, the majority saying keep it in," Donohue said Sept. 26.
Donohue's office also received several dozen telephone calls late last week from people urging him to retain the language in the oath, police spokeswoman Michelle Yu said.
"Some were very passionate," she said.
The Hawaii Christian Coalition said it would like to see the words return.
"This angers me, but we can't do anything unless the police department decides to fight it," said coalition chairman Garret Hashimoto. "I've been telling our people in the police department to ask Donohue to reconsider. I think that's the only thing we can do right now."
Officers graduating from the police academy tomorrow will be the first to be sworn in without the phrase.
Earlier this month, the police department removed a biblical passage and poems containing religious content from its Web site after Hawaii Citizens for the Separation of State and Church complained.
The group also wants the fire department to delete the world "God" from a firefighter's prayer in the next printing of a department safety guide. The department has not responded.