Why do something that gets people upset and doesn’t help create a reasoned discussion? Whether there is a God or not, if the idea is rational discussion, why use a term that could be perceived as offensive?
Yeah, but do you have to capitalize it? 
How about G/god(s), just to clarify that your points refer to all similar nonsense?
But since there is such a wide variety of deities to believe in, would it be o.k. to use “god” instead of “God”?
I think standard English is to use a capital G for God but I don’t think it’s a big deal to use a lowercase letter.
FYI for those that don’t know, there is no creator God in Buddhism. So it is a sort of atheist religion , as strange as that sounds.
If I am having an argument about belief in God, I am going to say upfront that I give God no more credibility than any of the other terms that you claim are non standard. He is no more real to me than an invisible sky fairy. Why should I be forced to accept someone else’s definition? What is wrong with speaking my true feelings? Although, to be honest, whenever I ask someone for a definition of God, I rarely get an answer.
Yes. There are some people who feel that even such a simple profession of disbelief is akin to calling them stupid or gullible. There is no way to avoid offending these people, short of lying about being an atheist in the first place.
For me, it depends on the discussion you are having - if we are discussing the Judeo-Christian God, capitalizing it is proper- God is a common name of the god, like Shiva is the name of a different god. If we are discussing concepts of gods, lowercase makes sense.
So Thor is a god, Odin is a god, and Zeus is a god, but the deity of the Bible is a God?
Using the word God does not imply you believe that he exists. As I keep saying, it’s just the standard English word for that concept. I use the term Santa Claus or should I say “fairy with red suit who brings gifts at Christmas?”
Because grownups shouldn’t be offended by every little thing that comes along.
As noted above, why should I dance around someone’s feelings when they have no concern for my own? Being told I’m a sinner who is going to hell is a darn sight more offensive than calling a spade an entrenching tool.
How can anyone take* personal offense* at a perceived slight to their deity? If he’s not offended, why should they be?
Yeah, this is sort of a grammatical sidebar here, but I agree with this. It bugs me when I see people make references to god - not “a god,” but “god” but leave it lower-case. Not because I find it disrespectful, because I don’t care about that. Just because it’s a proper noun when used in that manner, and as such it should be capitalized. In my opinion.
OK, grammar nerdery mode off now.
No, the deity of the bible is God.
It’s like naming a dog Dog.
No.
Thor is a god, Odin is a god, Zeus is a god, and God is a god.
eta: Beaten to the punch by Bosstone!
I thought his name was Yahweh.
Grownup should also be polite. Which referring to someone else’s cherished belief system in a manner they have told you is offensive isn’t. And once again, “but he did it first” is not a good excuse, especially for someone trying to pull the “they should be grownups” card.
No way.
The Lord is capitalized also. Is that his name too?
One of his names.
I’m not Christian, but used to be Catholic. We seldom used the name Yahweh, we used God.
I have several names myself, I don’t think its too unusual to have a few.
But seeing as how the Bible(properly capitalized) is so open to interpretation, I think I’ll stick with the term “deity of choice”, because to do otherwise is to pretend that all that use the term “God” are referring to the same entity.
I don’t know, I can’t keep up with all the names for someone else’s personal deity. If you’re using it as a name, then it should be capitalized. If you’re just referring to a general category, i.e. “a lord” instead of “the Lord,” then it shouldn’t be. For example, if you were stranded on an island after a three-hour tour, then you would say, “Call the Skipper, I think my coconut radio phone is picking up a ship transmission!” even though “skipper” is usually not a proper noun.