Does the phrase 'truthfully and forthrightly affirm' most closely resemble:
A. an Assertion
B. an Oath
If people were being honest, 80% would choose B.
Um, so your entire complaint then is that the wording he used "closely resembled" an oath?
Again, I don't agree. Looking these things up in the dictionary, your definition for 'affirm' as an oath didn't even show up.
If I *affirm* that Prez Bush is a good man, that is not an oath. It means I *believe*, I *agree*, I say *affirmative* to, that statement.
You're trying very hard to manufacture a complaint where none exists. And the thickest irony is, he would be well within his rights to say he only gives letters to someone who *swears an oath* that they believe in Darwinian evolution before agreeing to write a personal letter.
I'm very sorry, I just don't see any validity to your point so far.
If I look up the word "oath" in the dictionary, will the word "religious" be anywhere in the result?
I don't see how the word implies religiosity per se.