It means that I'm hiding something. They wanted employees to swear that they were loyal to their country, that they had never belonged to the Communist Party, and that they would never do anything to try to overturn the United States government. We will not swear. And many Quakers lost their jobs, or had a lot trouble keeping their jobs, for a while. And the same thing goes for the salute to the flag.
Quakers do believe in liberty and justice for all.
We've been working for freedom and for justice, for a lot longer than the United States has been in business. We've been working for religious freedom and for human justice for over 350 years. We love our country. But we won't swear. The idea behind swearing is that somehow, it's supposed to make you more honest than you would ordinarily be.