The Iowa legislature just began what is supposed to be its shortest regular session since the 1970s. Big issues need to be resolved, including a government reorganization, a rethink of state tax credits, and a budget that preserves as much money as possible for key priorities (education, health care, public safety) despite declining state revenues.

Iowa Republicans will weigh in on fiscal issues but are already trying to put Democrats on the defensive regarding the classic “culture war” issues: God, gays and guns.

This post covers the latest Republican effort to score political points in God’s name.  

On Saturday State Representative Dawn Pettengill posted this complaint to her Twitter feed:

The 1st two times I said the oath of office, “SO HELP ME GOD” was there & now it isn’t. Kevlar on, loins girded & reporting for duty, God!”

It took me about 30 seconds to find the relevant passage in the state constitution:

Oath of members. SEC. 32. Members of the general assembly shall, before they enter upon the duties of their respective offices, take and subscribe the following oath or affirmation: “I do solemnly swear, or affirm, (as the case may be,) that I will support the Constitution of the United States, and the Constitution of the State of Iowa, and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of senator, (or representative, as the case may be,) according to the best of my ability.” And members of the general assembly are hereby empowered to administer to each other the said oath or affirmation.

There is no mention of “so help me God,” nor any sign that that section of the constitution has ever been amended. When I asked Pettengill about that, she responded,

“So Help Me God” taken out of oath in 2009 without any discussion after min.12 yrs. Rqstd amendment to Constitution yesterday.

Pettengill put her staff to work researching the issue and found that “so help me God” has been included more often than not when legislators were sworn in. She was outraged:

“It has been said in the oath of office since 1939 here in Iowa and it’s included in the oath for federal senators and congressman,” Pettingill says.  “I think we should have had a discussion before it was removed.”

Pettingill didn’t notice the change last year when all 100 newly-elected members of the Iowa  House were sworn in using an oath without the words: “so help me, God.”  

I think whoever altered the oath to include “so help me God” acted improperly in the absence of a constitutional amendment. But what interests me more is that by her own admission, Pettengill didn’t even notice that “so help me God” wasn’t included in the oath in 2009. Now she finds the absence of those words so “offensive” that nothing less than a vote on a constitutional amendment will do.

With all the major issues legislators have to deal with in an 80-day session, is it really necessary to spend time debating this issue? Well, yes, if you’re a Republican wanting to depict political opponents as irreligious.

Pettengill implies statehouse Democrats removed God’s name from the oath last year without discussing the matter. But in fact, the chief clerk of the Iowa House, Mark Bransgaard, simply did the logical thing:

“I didn’t have a copy of the oath so I went to the constitution and copied it, unawares that we’ve said, ‘so help me God’ in the past.”

My guess is that Pettengill’s crusade becomes a “nontroversy,” but it’s only one skirmish in the culture war Republicans will be waging until legislators go home.

Any relevant thoughts are welcome in this thread.