13 April 2007

what number is it...

#3: 'You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.'
or
#9: 'You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.'
that Monica Goodling is afraid of breaking by refusing to testify in Congress and calling on the Fifth Amendment?

If she swears "...so help me God," in the oath required, she could be breaking #3. If she testifies or refuses to testify, she could be doing one of two things: lying about what she knows or omitting what she knows.

The first would be a sin of commission - ... a positive act contrary to some prohibitory precept. The second would be a sin of ommission - a failure to do what is commanded. A sin of omission, however, requires a positive act whereby one wills to omit the fulfilling of a precept, or at least wills something incompatible with its fulfillment. CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Sin

So in the sin of commission, she would actively be committing the sin if she swears and lies. In the sin of ommission, she could still be lying if she pleads the 5th because she would be commanded by law and oath to tell the truth.

I wonder what the classes dealing with the 5th Amendment teach at Regents University School of Law? Would the discussion be about sin or protection from "self-incrimination?" AND what laws are they actually learning?

just asking...

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