# Can't say "God" around Christian?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-say-god-around-christian/293149
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [March 6, 2005, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-say-god-around-christian/293149 "2005-03-06T00:49:17Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@fighting\_ignorant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fighting_ignorant)
#### Post date: [March 6, 2005, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-say-god-around-christian/293149/1 "2005-03-06T00:49:17Z")
So, I’m familiar with for instance Jews who will write “g-d” so as not to put the lord’s name on something that can be mistreated… However today I encountered someone entirely different, was wondering if anyone can shed some light:
This guy from all appearances is thoroughly modern, hipster-looking guy (I would say late twenties, early thirties). However he mentioned early on that religion is very important, he leads his life according to the bible, etc. etc. Fine, so far nothing I haven’t seen before.
Then as we’re talking, I say offhand comment like “God only knows what that is for.” and he stops the conversation and asks me if I could refrain from using that word, since it’s against his principles.
Question I have - what Christian belief system or principle is there, or certain religious order, group, sect, etc., for whom other people saying the word “God” would be considered offensive?
Bear in mind that, taken literally, my offhand comment is actually an _affirmation_ of the lord’s omniscience… not that I intended it that way, but my point being, it’s not like I said “Jesus is evil” or anything. Anyway, any insight or knowledge you all could share, much appreciated. Thanks!
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### Author:  [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)
#### Post date: [March 6, 2005, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-say-god-around-christian/293149/2 "2005-03-06T00:57:52Z")
[Exodus 20:7](http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=2&chapter=20&verse=7&version=9&context=verse)
> [@](#):
>
> 7Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
This verse is usually cited as prohibiting swearing, but it can have a broader meaning, namely that one shouldn’t use God’s name in a flippant or casual manner. Referring to God is serious stuff.
For instance, my mother wouldn’t approve of casual phrases like “Thank God it’s not too hot today.” Don’t know how she would have reacted to the sentence you mentioned; probably would have depended on the context and tone of your voice.
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### Author:  [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)
#### Post date: [March 6, 2005, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-say-god-around-christian/293149/3 "2005-03-06T01:04:08Z")
In the Conservative Christian (read: Fundie) circles in which I move, the phrase “God only knows” would be acceptable only if the speaker was intending to literally **mean** that only God would know whatever-it-was. The name of God is not to be “wasted” as empty rhetoric, IOW.
However, interestingly, “Lord knows” is perfectly acceptable, and is used frequently by pillars of my church.
But “goodness knows” is optimal.
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### Author:  [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)
#### Post date: [March 6, 2005, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-say-god-around-christian/293149/4 "2005-03-06T01:06:59Z")
That’s interesting, because “God” is not the diety’s name.
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### Author:  [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)
#### Post date: [March 6, 2005, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-say-god-around-christian/293149/5 "2005-03-06T01:13:30Z")
No, but it is in English.
Presumably French Fundies would have the same objection to the use of “Dieu”, and German Fundies to “Gott”, and Spanish Fundies to “Dios”.
Etc.
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### Author:  [@Fritz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fritz)
#### Post date: [March 6, 2005, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-say-god-around-christian/293149/6 "2005-03-06T02:38:49Z")
> [@Loopydude](#):
>
> That’s interesting, because “God” is not the diety’s name.
[old man’s voice]…that piece of halibut was good enough for Jehovah…[/omv]
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### Author:  [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)
#### Post date: [March 6, 2005, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-say-god-around-christian/293149/7 "2005-03-06T03:38:50Z")
And isn’t it telling, that their belief influences not only their own speech, but everyone else’s as well. I’ve never heard an orthodox Jew object to \*\*somebody else \*\*writing the word “God.”
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### Author:  [@Bookkeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bookkeeper)
#### Post date: [March 6, 2005, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-say-god-around-christian/293149/8 "2005-03-06T04:51:50Z")
Simply tell him that he is free to restrict himself in how he speaks his god’s name, but that he cannot restrict how you speak your own god’s name.
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### Author:  [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)
#### Post date: [March 6, 2005, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-say-god-around-christian/293149/9 "2005-03-06T05:10:11Z")
Yeah, this is just beyond the pale. As a rule I’m a pretty polite person and usually wouldn’t knowingly say something I knew would offend, but in the OP’s place I would have had a hard time containing myself. If it’s against your principles not to use certain words, don’t use them. But asking someone else not to use ordinary idiomatic language because of _your_ principles is just plain rude, in any religion.
I’d be strongly tempted in this situation to say, “Okay, I’ll agree to this if you’ll follow _my_ religious principles, and say ‘Satan bless you’ whenever I sneeze.”
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### Author:  [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)
#### Post date: [March 6, 2005, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-say-god-around-christian/293149/10 "2005-03-06T05:19:12Z")
When the Beach Boys released “God Only Knows,” wasn’t it slightly controversial, as it was the first time “God” had been used in the title of a pop song?
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### Author:  [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)
#### Post date: [March 6, 2005, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-say-god-around-christian/293149/11 "2005-03-06T05:23:48Z")
I think this is really an IHMO question so IMHO, you have no obligation to refrain from saying whatever you want. It is no infringement on his religious rights to hear somebody else say “God” in a way he doesn’t like it. He is actually asking you to restrict your own rights to accomodate his sensibilities. I understand a wish to avoid friction or confrontation but he’s already started the friction. If it were me, I would politely inform him that I do not share his views on the matter and that I would have to decline his request that I censor myself. This would not be a slight or an insult to him, it would be a polite response to an inuslting request by _him_. Do not allow yourself to be intimidated or manipulated into thinking it isn’t a rude request. It is.
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### Author:  [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)
#### Post date: [March 6, 2005, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-say-god-around-christian/293149/12 "2005-03-06T05:27:57Z")
> [@Duck Duck Goose](#):
>
> No, but it is in English.
>
> Presumably French Fundies would have the same objection to the use of “Dieu”, and German Fundies to “Gott”, and Spanish Fundies to “Dios”.
>
> Etc.
Vaya con dios?
Well, that’s rude!
:mad:
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### Author:  [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)
#### Post date: [March 6, 2005, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-say-god-around-christian/293149/13 "2005-03-06T06:14:17Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Vaya con dios?
>
> Well, that’s rude!
No, that is a polite wish that God will accompany one on one’s travels. There is no “taking in vain” associated with an actual blessing.
**Diogenes** , while you may be able to make a case that no other person should impose their theology on another, it is a question of courtesy, not “rights.”
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### Author:  [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)
#### Post date: [March 6, 2005, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-say-god-around-christian/293149/14 "2005-03-06T06:31:50Z")
> [@panache45](#):
>
> And isn’t it telling, that their belief influences not only their own speech, but everyone else’s as well. I’ve never heard an orthodox Jew object to \*\*somebody else \*\*writing the word “God.”
Just to clarify, when I used the example of my mother, I wasn’t suggesting that she would try to impose her views on the world at large, just on me as part of the general parental educative process: giving the kid some values, etc.
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### Author:  [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)
#### Post date: [March 6, 2005, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-say-god-around-christian/293149/15 "2005-03-06T06:55:20Z")
> [@tomndebb](#):
>
> **Diogenes** , while you may be able to make a case that no other person should impose their theology on another, it is a question of courtesy, not “rights.”
I am contending that it is discourteous to ask somebody else to adhere to a standard of speech which goes _beyond_ what the commonly accepted parameters of civility would dictate. I am not suggesting that one should use language which could normally be expected to offensive (“God damn,” “Jesus Christ”) but courtesy does not require one to avoid using expressions which are _not_ normally expected to be offensive (“thank God,” “God knows”). I believe there is a point at which asking another invidual to exercise that kind of self-censorship becomes intrusive and unreasonable.
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### Author:  [@vinniepaz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vinniepaz)
#### Post date: [March 6, 2005, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-say-god-around-christian/293149/16 "2005-03-06T09:43:39Z")
My contribution to this thread is that I hate the word “fundies.”
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### Author:  [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)
#### Post date: [March 6, 2005, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-say-god-around-christian/293149/17 "2005-03-06T13:03:19Z")
> [@fighting ignorant](#):
>
> …what Christian belief system or principle is there, or certain religious order, group, sect, etc., for whom other people saying the word “God” would be considered offensive?
This is tough to answer in a GQ context. As a general rule conservative sects such as Southern Baptist, Assembly of God, etc might frown on casual use of “God” but that isn’t universal. Using God as an epithet is pretty well frowned upon but not universal. Someone on SDMB said that taking the lord’s name in vain didn’t mean saying casual profanity but speaking falsely in the name of God. Saying “goddamn hamsmters” may not be a problem but saying “god said to send me $100 to build a crystal cathedral or he’d kill me” is.
I’ve only encountered one person that was so easily offended and that was in grade school. I said my grandmother’s homemade butter was like dying and going to heaven. He went apescat on me and yelled at me to never use that word that way again. Good thing I didn’t say goddamn hamsters in front of him.
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### Author:  [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)
#### Post date: [March 6, 2005, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-say-god-around-christian/293149/18 "2005-03-06T14:29:40Z")
> [@Duck Duck Goose](#):
>
> No, but it is in English.
Well, one could counter that in English, it’s perhaps something like “I Am”, or “I Will Be”. “God” could be thought of as a nickname, maybe, like Adonai, or a generic term like “deity”?
I dunno, I would have tried it. Taking “the Lord’s name in vain” means, quite simply, uttering the name spelled out by the tetragrammaton at inappropriate times, and in inappropriate places.
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### Author:  [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)
#### Post date: [March 6, 2005, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-say-god-around-christian/293149/19 "2005-03-06T14:35:13Z")
> [@vinniepaz](#):
>
> My contribution to this thread is that I hate the word “fundies.”
I agree. Especially when it’s tossed out as a smarmy, uninformed, and gratuitous pejorative with an almost cavalier condescension.
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### Author:  [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)
#### Post date: [March 6, 2005, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-say-god-around-christian/293149/20 "2005-03-06T15:47:38Z")
Well, it is a good thing that it was not used in that pejorative fashion, but was, instead, used as a mildly self-deprecating reference to the poster’s own beliefs.
For the rest of this thread, let us \ ***all** \* avoid the use of the word fundie/y and stick to the topic.
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