I know the guy you mean. I’ve seen him at the corner of Van Nuys/Victory. (I live near there) It may not be a legal public nuisance, but that guy is freaking annoying.
Asking me to refrain from using their or anyone else’s god’s name in vain is asking me to respect the god, which I don’t and I won’t.
I wouldn’t argue about it – I just wouldn’t do it. To avoid confrontation, I might even lie and say I would try. If I “slipped”, I might say, “Oops, goddammit”.
The only exception to this would be in the workplace, if I felt my job might be threatened.
Actually, Boyo, it’s asking you to respect them.
Of course, as you noted, a person should only respect other’s people’s beliefs when it is financially advantageous for that person. :rolleyes:
But they’re being disrespectful by making a request for you to change your behavior.
Would I be respecting or disrespecting Fred if I said Freddammit?
Come to think of it, isn’t ‘goddammit’ being MORE respectful to a god in the sense that you are allowing as to how god might actually have the power to damn something and make it count?
What if they asked you not to say “dammit?”
I see it as not swearing around your grandmother, or what have you.
(Well, my maternal grandmother. My dad’s mother-I actually learned to swear from her. God, I miss her.)
Are you saying that they shouldn’t do that? Do they need to change their behavior?
Nope. I wouldn’t request such of them.
[Moderator Admonition]This is not a Pit thread, this is a poll. The next person who shows that she/he doesn’t know the difference is getting an official warning.[/Moderator Admonition]
Yay! Thank you! Witnesses are better than witnessing.
You know, I don’t believe in God, and I have no especial respect for religious beliefs, and I certainly don’t believe that anyone has the right to never be offended, but I also believe that just because one *can *be disrespectful and obnoxious doesn’t mean one should.
I also find it ironic that the request (and the belief) have been repeatedly called “childish”, when apparently the response to that request can be summed up as “Can’t make me! Neener neener!!!”
This isn’t a poll-this is a religious debate.
Moving thread from IMHO to Great Debates.
My honest intent was a simple poll. I had no idea that it would turn out like it did. My mistake.
Thank you for the voice of reason. I couldn’t have said it better. Would you fake a prayer for someone because they asked you to?
No, but if someone politely said to me “You know, the word ‘moist’ really squicks me out. Would you mind not using it?” I’d do my best to avoid it. Not because I think it’s a reasonable request, but because it makes them happy, and costs me nothing.
I’m an atheist, but pick your battles, people. This is a matter of civility, not civil rights. “Please don’t blaspheme in front of me” is no more equivalent to “Let’s make religion mandatory” than “Please dont say ‘fuck’ in front of me” is equivalent to “Let’s reinstate the Hayes code”.
I agree with all of this. But I would also conclude that this person is abnormal and would treat him or her accordingly and would hesitate to entrust matters of consequence to him or her.
Pardon? A change in behavior includes “please take your shoes off when walking on the carpet”, “please turn your radio down while we’re sharing a desk” or “please stop punching my cat in the face”. Since when is merely asking something of someone “disrespectful”?
I’m not sure I’m understanding you. Here you say that it’s childish to ask anyone to curb their speech so it doesn’t offend a person’s religion, but on the other hand you seem to think it’s a sacred duty to curb someone’s speech so it doesn’t offend a person’s lack of religion? Could you explain how you reconcile those two thoughts?
I’d try but probably wouldn’t be very good at it.
Saying things like:
Well Holy God …
Sweet Mary Mother of Jesus …
Jesus…
Jesus Christ …
and many many more are part of the language over here as things to begins certain sentences with. Religious and non religious people use them all the time. I remember an American being confused with the amount of religious ref’s I used while speaking as he knew I was an atheist. I told him I was culturally Irish which meant I was going to use religious ref’s all the time.
And agreed some more. Weird. Not someone I wanna hang with. Definitely not someone I’m gonna let babysit. But that doesn’t mean that I have carte blanche to be rude.
Let’s be real here. All these people saying “I have the right to say whatever I want!!!”, well… yeah, you do. But is “I have the right to be rude” really the hill you wanna die on? Because simply refraining from taking the lord’s name in vain is not the same thing as endorsing a religious belief, any more than refraining from saying “fuck” is endorsing censorship. I know, I know… y’all are all badass and iconoclastic and provocative and blahblahblahdarwinfishcakes, but you’re not defending the rights of the downtrodden here, folks. You’re just behaving like spiteful children.