The Air Force announced Wednesday that airmen taking the oath of enlistment and officer appointment are no longer required to conclude with "so help me God," reported the Air Force Times.
While the Air Force previously allowed its service members to omit the phrase referencing God, the option to omit was removed in October 2013 after a reinterpretation of 10 U.S.C. 502, 5 U.S.C. 3331 and Title 32, which contains the oaths of office.
The current controversy began in August when an unnamed atheist airman's reenlistment paperwork was rejected after he crossed out the "so help me God" phrase on his Department of Defense form, and then refused to say the phrase in a verbal oath during reenlistment procedures.
"The Airman's unit was unable to process his paperwork due to the guidance in Air Force Instruction 36-2606, Reenlistment in the United States Air Force, which prohibited any omissions," said the Air Force in a press release.
After the airman's reenlistment was refused, the American Humanist Association (AHA) contacted the Air Force on behalf of the airman, who was stationed at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada, and threatened to file suit by Sept. 19 if the decision was not reversed.
On Sept. 9, five days after the AHA announced it was representing the airman, the Air Force sought a legal review of the rule by the Department of Defense General Counsel.
"The resulting opinion concluded that an individual may strike or omit the words 'So help me God' from an enlistment or appointment oath if preferred," said the Air Force press release.
Air Force instructions for enlisted and commissioned service members will be changed in the coming weeks, the press release said, but policy changes are effective now, and the words "so help me God" can be omitted without repercussion.
"Now that the Department of Defense General Counsel has provided an opinion, the Airman's enlistment paperwork will be processed to completion," the press release said.
All other branches of the armed service - the Navy, Army, and Marine Corps - allow their service members to omit the religious phrase, according to the Air Force Times.
