Appendix:Spoken formulas

These are spoken utterances whose form and content are rigidly fixed- generally always recited word for word. Most are a type of public ritual specified by religious or civil laws or customs.

English

Civil

United States

The Pledge of Allegiance

• I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Religious

Christianity

The Lord's Prayer

1. One Protestant version:

   Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name

   Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven

   Give us today our daily bread,

   And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us

   And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil

   For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever,

   Amen

Judaism

The Shema

1. Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God, the LORD is one

   Blessed be the Name of His glorious kingdom for ever and ever.

   And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

   And these words that I command you today shall be in your heart.

   And you shall teach them diligently to your children, and you shall speak of them

   when you sit at home, and when you walk along the way, and when you lie down and when you rise up.

   And you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes.

   And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Notes

• This is mostly recited in Hebrew, but English is also allowed

Islam

The Shahada

1. There is no god but Allah, and Mohammed is His prophet

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Hebrew

Religious

Judaism

The Shema

1. שמע ישראל ה׳ אלקינו ה׳ אחד

Notes

• Restrictions on writing and uttering the Divine Name have altered both the Hebrew as written here and the spoken form as shown in the transliteration from the scripture upon which it is based

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Arabic

Religious

Islam

The Shahida

1. لا إله إلا الله محمد رسول الله

   lā ʾilāha ʾillā llāhu muḥammadun rasūlu llāhi

   There is no god but God; Muhammad is the messenger of God