I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2513 
To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to prescribe the oath or 
affirmation of renunciation and allegiance required to be naturalized 
as a citizen of the United States. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 19, 2005 
Mr. RYUN of Kansas (for himself and Mr. FEENEY) introduced the following 
bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 
A BILL 
To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to prescribe 
the oath or affirmation of renunciation and allegiance 
required to be naturalized as a citizen of the United 
States. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. OATH OR AFFIRMATION OF RENUNCIATION 
AND ALLEGIANCE. 
(a) REVISION OF OATH.—Section 337 of the Immi-
gration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1448) is amend-
ed—
(1) in subsection (a) by striking ‘‘under section 
310(b) an oath’’ in the first sentence and all that 
follows through the end of the third sentence and in-
serting ‘‘under section 310(b) the oath (or affirma-
tion) of allegiance prescribed in subsection (e).’’; and 
(2) by adding at the end the following new sub-
section: 
‘‘(e)(1) Subject to paragraphs (2) and (3), the oath 
(or affirmation) of allegiance is as follows: ‘I take this oath 
solemnly, freely, and without any mental reservation. I en-
tirely renounce all allegiance to any foreign state or power 
of which I have been a subject or citizen. My fidelity and 
allegiance from this day forward are to the United States 
of America. I will bear true faith and allegiance to the 
Constitution and laws of the United States, and will sup-
port and defend them against all enemies, foreign and do-
mestic. I will bear arms, or perform noncombatant mili-
tary or civilian service, on behalf of the United States 
when required by law. This I do solemnly swear, so help 
me God.’. 
‘‘(2) If a person by reason of religious training and 
belief (or individual interpretation thereof), or for other 
reasons of good conscience, cannot take the oath pre-
scribed in paragraph (1) with the term ‘oath’ or ‘so help
me God’ included, the person shall take the oath in a 
modified form as follows: 
‘‘(A) In the case that the person cannot take 
the oath with the term ‘oath’ included, the term ‘af-
firmation’ shall be substituted for the term ‘oath’. 
‘‘(B) In the case that the person cannot take 
the oath with ‘so help me God’ included, then ‘so 
help me God’ shall be omitted. 
‘‘(3) If a person shows by clear and convincing evi-
dence to the satisfaction of the Attorney General that such 
person, by reason of religious training and belief, cannot 
take the oath prescribed in paragraph (1) with the affir-
mation to bear arms or perform noncombatant military 
service, the person shall take the oath in a modified form 
as follows: 
‘‘(A) In the case that such person is opposed to 
the bearing of arms in the Armed Forces of the 
United States, then ‘bear arms, or’ shall be omitted. 
‘‘(B) In the case that such person is opposed to 
any type of service in the Armed Forces of the 
United States, then ‘bear arms, or’ and ‘noncombat-
ant military or’ shall be omitted. 
‘‘(4) For purposes of this subsection, the term ‘reli-
gious training and belief’ means a belief of an individual 
in relation to a Supreme Bring involving duties superior
to those arising from any human relation, but does not 
include essentially political, sociological, or philosophical 
views or a merely personal moral code. 
‘‘(5) Any reference in this title to ‘oath’ or ‘oath of 
allegiance’ under this section or subsection (a) shall be 
deemed to refer to the oath (or affirmation) of allegiance 
prescribed under this subsection. ’’. 
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 
subsection (a) shall take effect on the date that is six 
months after the date of the enactment of this Act. 
Æ