In an article at the History News Network David B. Parker debunks the “so help me God” myth. He notes that it was created “[t]o shore up our Godly credentials.” And this is only one of the Cold War inventions to shore up our religious bona fides in our battle with the godless Soviet Union. “It joined “one nation, under God” and “In God we trust” to create a trinity of Cold War religious phrases. And like several other legacies of our Cold War heritage, this one has stuck with us.”