Og instead of god, why?

[OttoDaFe]

@Skald_the_Rhymer

Atheists don’t mind saying god, God, Zeus, Yahweh, Odin, Mithra, Superman, or the name of any other such fictional entity.

Which reminds me, for no good reason, of the Irish atheist’s credo: “There is no God, and Mary is His mother.”

[Manduck]

Just don’t say Jehovah, because that’s a stoning.

[Smeghead]

@Manduck

Just don’t say Jehovah, because that’s a stoning.

You’re only making it worse for yourself.

[FriarTed]

@OttoDaFe

Which reminds me, for no good reason, of the Irish atheist’s credo: “There is no God, and Mary is His mother.”

I first heard that in a Martin Sheen interview where he described himself at the time as a Catholic agnostic “I don’t know if there is a God but I do know that Mary is His Mother.”

[Grrr]

I’ve always prefered the IPU myself. (The invisible pink unicorn)

[DrFidelius]

@Smeghead

You’re only making it worse for yourself.

Making it worse? How can it be worse? Jehovah! Jehovah! Jehovah!

[chrisk]

@hajario

Og Smash is a joke that pre-dates the SDMB by a number of years. It was a joke on the Usenet for a while before this message board existed.

But did that iteration make Og divine, or just an aggressive caveman type? I think that the SDMB’s contribution was to come up with Og the divine aggressive caveman.

[Voyager]

@Diogenes_the_Cynic

Atheists don’t typically have any problem with saying “God,” or using expressions containing that word. Atheism is not some kind of doctrine which prohibits any reference to the word. I say “God,” all the time, along with expressions like “thank God,” Sweet Jesus," "thank Christ, etc.

I don’t think I’ve ever met an atheist who made any attempt to avoid using the word figuratively or in epithets. It means nothing.

“God willing” is short for if things don’t work out and the creek don’t rise, but given the overloading of God I prefer Og willing myself. Firesign Theatre used “Grid willing.”
My father used to use “Jesus Christ” as a swear word, which worked because he never believed in Jesus Christ, unlike God. Never “thank Christ” though.

[jharvey963]

@Diogenes_the_Cynic

Atheists don’t typically have any problem with saying “God,” or using expressions containing that word. Atheism is not some kind of doctrine which prohibits any reference to the word. I say “God,” all the time, along with expressions like “thank God,” Sweet Jesus," "thank Christ, etc.

I don’t think I’ve ever met an atheist who made any attempt to avoid using the word figuratively or in epithets. It means nothing.

I do. I catch myself often starting to say automatic phrases like “thank god” or “god help you” “or god bless you” or some such and will often edit myself. On the other hand, I say Merry Christmas all the time without any hesitation. So I’m not a purist or anything. I just feel odd saying “Thank god”. Of course, that’s just me. YMMV.

J.

[Ambivalid]

@jharvey963

I do. I catch myself often starting to say automatic phrases like “thank god” or “god help you” “or god bless you” or some such and will often edit myself. On the other hand, I say Merry Christmas all the time without any hesitation. So I’m not a purist or anything. I just feel odd saying “Thank god”. Of course, that’s just me. YMMV.

J.

Why would an atheist have a problem with “Merry Christmas”? The celebration of Christmas is by no means an exclusively religious one. These days, it’s practically more of a commercial marketing time than anything else. I didn’t know saying “Merry Christmas” was any sort of implicit embrace of any element of christianity; rather just national holiday words of cheer. But that’s just me. Perhaps a more rigid atheist could give their point-of-view.

[D_Odds]

@jamiemcgarry

Why would an atheist have a problem with “Merry Christmas”? The celebration of Christmas is by no means an exclusively religious one. These days, it’s practically more of a commercial marketing time than anything else. I didn’t know saying “Merry Christmas” was any sort of implicit embrace of any element of christianity; rather just national holiday words of cheer. But that’s just me. Perhaps a more rigid atheist could give their point-of-view.

I guess you’ve missed all the “put Christ back in Christmas” (when people use XMas) or the annual ‘War on Christmas’ complaints to anyone who says “Happy Holidays”. And Og forbid should one try to celebrate this most holy of Christian day [:rolleyes:] in a way that doesn’t commemorate the made up date of birth of Jesus.

[Sitnam]

@Diogenes_the_Cynic

Atheists don’t typically have any problem with saying “God,” or using expressions containing that word. Atheism is not some kind of doctrine which prohibits any reference to the word. I say “God,” all the time, along with expressions like “thank God,” Sweet Jesus," "thank Christ, etc.

I don’t think I’ve ever met an atheist who made any attempt to avoid using the word figuratively or in epithets. It means nothing.

I don’t say ‘bless you’ when someone sneezes though, perhaps it’s impolite but that’s a sacrifice that must be made to avoid upholding a silly superstition.

[BMalion]

@D_Odds

I guess you’ve missed all the “put Christ back in Christmas” (when people use XMas) or the annual ‘War on Christmas’ complaints to anyone who says “Happy Holidays”. And Og forbid should one try to celebrate this most holy of Christian day [:rolleyes:] in a way that doesn’t commemorate the made up date of birth of Jesus.

Actually the letter “X” is the first letter in the greek word for “Christ”. It has a long tradition of being used as a respectful substitute as in “Merry Xmas”.

[IvoryTowerDenizen]

@Sitnam

I don’t say ‘bless you’ when someone sneezes though, perhaps it’s impolite but that’s a sacrifice that must be made to avoid upholding a silly superstition.

Perhaps Gesundheit, which simply means “good health”? That way you don’t have to be impolite for a principle.

[MsWhatsit]

@IvoryTowerDenizen

Perhaps Gesundheit, which simply means “good health”? That way you don’t have to be impolite for a principle.

My friend Scott is a hardcore atheist. Whenever someone sneezes, he says “Scott bless you.”

[IvoryTowerDenizen]

@MsWhatsit

My friend Scott is a hardcore atheist. Whenever someone sneezes, he says “Scott bless you.”

That’s actually really funny.

[TruCelt]

@MsWhatsit

My friend Scott is a hardcore atheist. Whenever someone sneezes, he says “Scott bless you.”

You misspelled narcissist.

[6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast]

@Sitnam

I don’t say ‘bless you’ when someone sneezes though, perhaps it’s impolite but that’s a sacrifice that must be made to avoid upholding a silly superstition.

I just say “Shuuut up!”

[IvoryTowerDenizen]

@TruCelt

You misspelled narcissist.

You misspelled Scottissist.

[MsWhatsit]

@IvoryTowerDenizen

You misspelled Scottissist.

I’m totally passing this along to him. Awesome.