Will you swear on the Bible?

On December 31, I heard a commentary by Jeffrey Reel on WAMC. I searched for it on the internet, and found it as comment #9 replying to the following blog entry:

Ellison to Use Thomas Jefferson's Koran - AOL Elections Blog - The Stump

Jeffrey Reel brings up the point that the Bible says not to swear, instead, let your yes mean yes and your no mean no. Coming from a Quaker background, I've known about that since I was a kid. A verse from our favorite Quaker song says,

Will you swear on the Bible?
"I will not," said he,
"For the truth is more holy than the book to me."

Jeffrey Reel writes

say what you mean, mean what you say; let your word be good, and binding, at all times. And this, perhaps, is the most difficult standard for each of us to live up to, yet our emotional and spiritual growth is conditioned upon walking that narrow but clearly defined path.

and

The act of taking an oath – as separate and distinct from all other times – trivializes the immensity of the spiritual experience that can be found in every conversation we have with every individual we meet, at every moment in our lives."