Question re: Citzenship Ceremony. Oath v. Affirmation?

For those of you who have done the ceremony, what was the oath v affirmation split like?

I never paid attention to the fact that you have a choice and I am very curious as to which most people choose. I not really sure what choice I will make as there is a part of me that's not bothered either way but also a part of me that would love to see "god" taken out of government completely.





Edited for crap grammar. 

I chose the godless one (the affirmation?) because I'm a raging atheist and swearing by god would have been both hypocritical and pointless! It was split about half and half at my citizenship ceremony, maybe slightly more gods than not-gods.

There were 4 affirmations in our ceremony and about 20 oaths.

Interesting difference. Was your ceremony in London Anonymiss?

Yes, the affirmation is the godless one. Intellectually, I am agnostic although emotionally I am a theist so it does pose a minor conundrum for me.

Yes, ours was in London.

I cannot remember this at all! I'm sure I'd have chosen affirmation, and I do recall two different groups at my ceremony, but I think they were split pretty much equally.  This was in Bath. 

At my ceremony in London (April 2012) it was about 2/3 affirmers (I was in this group) and 1/3 oath-takers.

At mine in Coventry in early 2009 it was a bit more than half (maybe 60%) oath.

No idea!  I did the godless one.  It was a big crowd of people going through the citizenship ceremony - between 50-100.  As they were getting it set up & as we entered the room, they clearly instructed each of us when we checked in - if we were doing the affirmation to sit on the left side of the aisle in between 2 sections of chairs, and if we were doing the oath to sit on the right side group of chairs.  So when it came time, they would ask the left side to stand all together & (repeat after) say the affirmation.  And then the right side would stand all together & (repeat after) say the oath.

Now then, quite a few did not have English as their first language, and quite a few people either a) did not listen or were not able to follow instructions; and/or b) didn't understand the instructions they were given; or else c) just wanted to sit wherever they wanted to sit.  Resulting in some people doing the oath & some people doing the affirmation ending up sitting on either side - regardless of what we had been instructed.  This in turn made that whole oath/affirmation performance something of a fustercluck.  In each turn (affirmation or oath), some sitting, some standing, some speaking, some not speaking on either side.  I think there were even some folks who stood up both times & said both the oath and the affirmation - out of general confusion or perhaps they just wanted to really drive the point home on how earnestly they were swearing themselves into citizenship & all, maybe saying it twice was doubly good?  It was all a largely mumbled affair in either affirmation or oath scenario.

So it didn't really make one iota of difference in the end, I don't think.  I know what I preferred to say & do, I sat where I was told & said what they told me to repeat at the time I was supposed to, and otherwise just watched the overall somewhat humorous spectacle unfold.

And we all got our citizenship.  The end! 

I got my US citizenship in the early '80s and I don't remember there being a godless version there. Is there? Anyway, I just didn't say the god bit and felt that I'd satisfied my atheist conscience that way. 

I got my US citizenship in the early '80s and I don't remember there being a godless version there. Is there? Anyway, I just didn't say the god bit and felt that I'd satisfied my atheist conscience that way.  

Yeah, the UK one - you get a choice of 'swearing by God', or alternatively, something along the lines of that you really promise & really mean it (you vow, but without godly involvement).    Two different versions that you choose between.

Pulled my folder out of the filing cabinet and they start like this:

oath - I (insert name)  swear by Almighty God...

affirmation - I (insert name) so solemnly and sincerely affirm...

after that bit they are exactly the same.

I got my US citizenship in the early '80s and I don't remember there being a godless version there. Is there? Anyway, I just didn't say the god bit and felt that I'd satisfied my atheist conscience that way.  

You can "solemnly affirm" rather than "swear" in the US one, and if you provide proof in advance that your religion forbids it, you can skip the part about taking up arms to defend the US.

(I tried to find this specific information in a link, but a) the US website may be worse than the UKBA for finding information, and b) my wife and father-in-law are going to a car boot sale tomorrow, and I keep getting roped into "are we keeping this" and "would you please put this in the boot of the car", which is interrupting my Google flow.)

You can "solemnly affirm" rather than "swear" in the US one, and if you provide proof in advance that your religion forbids it, you can skip the part about taking up arms to defend the US.

Yep, I skipped the taking up arms bit as well. 

I think there were around 25 or 30 people at my ceremony, and it seemed like around two-thirds did the "I swear to God" oath, and a third of us did the non-God oath. I appreciated having an option, as I wouldn't have felt comfortable swearing to God my allegiance.

I was worried I'd be the only one to choose that option and would be speaking by myself, but was relieved that there were plenty of us and I wasn't alone.

For me, the ceremony wasn't a big deal. It was more of a relief to be done with the UKBA and giving them all of my money. Plus, I didn't have anyone with me, since my husband was out of the country and my friends were all at work. However, you could tell it was a really big day for a lot of people, so it's nice being there to see that. There was an Asian family (mother and three children) that was so excited and in tears, so it was really nice to get to see people that happy.