I was wondering how long it would take you to respond to this one. And you did make a point with me on what you said but not all of it. So let me reclarify.
I did come off kind of demanding which was probably not the best way to get my point across and for that I apologize for sounding arrogant to some of you. But(there is always a but huh)I still think it could be just common courtesy to respect the feelings of other human beings. So refraining from using God in your expletives doesn’t sound like that much to ask but to some people( as you most eloquently put it btw seem not to be able to use a better choice of words to express themselves) so I guess they are not going to respect my request. And that’s fine it is a free country
Wildest Bill, if you sneeze, can I say “God bless you,” even though I don’t think She does exist, or if She did that She’d stop and take time out from hurling comets to do it?
I think the problem is that English simply doesn’t have enough interesting swear words for foul-mouthed heathens like myself to voluntarily drop any. If Christians really want to remove phrases like goddamn, etc. from the vocabulary, then they need to come up with ten or so really foul expletives to replace them. Maybe they could have their missionaries bring some back from other cultures? (Now that would get the collection plate moving on Sunday!)
My friends from other countries tell me that English is pathetic for swearing, compared to other languages. Stupid native language! Why couldn’t I have been born Italian?
As one of the most profane members of this little community I’ve been following this topic avidly. And completely off-topic I’d like to provide this little resource for Giraffe.
Here’s a dictionary of foreign curse words suitable for any occasion, just in case you need a Macedonian word for shit.
While I disagree with WildestBill on most of his OP, it does bring up a good question.
Why do I as an atheist feel the need to exclaim “Jesus Christ” when I’m pissed. He isn’t my savior. I suppose it’s for the same reason that I still celebrate Christmas. For some of us, its more of a social phenomenon than anything religious.
But lately, for the sake of equal time, I’ve been trying to say, “For the love of Buddha” instead of “For Christ’s Sake”. Freaks some people out.
If I asked you to stop talking about your god…because I find it offensive, would you?
Of course you wouldn’t. It’s your god given right eh? You’re required to…aren’t you? What you’re doing here is tatamount to knocking on my door on a Sunday morning, offering me an Awake booklet.
Your defence in regards to the Crusades and the Inquisition is feeble at best. Both of these examples were engineered by the church. The church is all about greed and power.
I’m trying not to attack you as a person, just the organization you belong to.
I’ve said it before…I’ll say it again. Being spiritual, and being religious are two completely different things.
I can understand your faith…what I have trouble coming to terms with is how you choose to demonstrate your faith.
I could go on and on and on…but I don’t have the energy.
Another day perhaps.
Because you need him admit it. You can do it. Just kidding around but you bring up a point about why we feel we need to believe in something. Even if you say you believe in nothing than “nothing” is something. Did I say that right? Oh well I think you see what I am saying.
Yes that is sad but true but there is still hope for you yet.
Well at least that is a start especially if Budda doesn’t mind.
As far as the OP, I pretty much agree with what redtail said early on. I try to be polite, but I must admit that due to linguistic influences over the ages, sometimes swears offensive to religious people roll off my tongue. I also must say that when someone titled their thread “Holy Chocolate Christ on a Cookie Cross!” I just about fell out of my chair laughing.
Speaking of laughing, slythe and Jess have given me two jocular alternatives: “Zeus on a Zither!” and “Buddha on a Boogie Board!” (love the mental image on that one!) Thanks, guys.
No I don’t. I said it is a social phenomenom, not a religious one. Believing in the existence of society is not something I’m prepared to debate.
Easy, Bill. You’re coming awfully close to mocking me. Let’s not go there.
When Buddha and Jesus knock on my door, with a petition signed by every other major and minor deity, I’ll start worrying about whether or not I’m offending them. In the mean time I think I’ll just deal with living breathing people here on my home planet.
You mean, why is it an established practice to use the name of god in swearing? My guess: because swearing is meant to be strong, forceful and shocking, and what better way to do that than denigrate the highest power?
Since you don’t know me, you don’t know my mother’s name either. So you couldn’t do that. Perhaps I should have explained myself more clearly. First of all, I only use “foul language” when I’m in private (talking to myself), so I’m not running around saying “Christ on a stick!” all the time. But, for example, I have a very good friend who is a fundamentalist christian. So when talking to her, I am more careful about discussing religion because I don’t want to offend her. Similarly, I would expect a friend of mine to not insult my mother.
If you were a good friend of mine and asked me not to take in vain the name of god in your presence, I would do that. But I wouldn’t bother avoiding curses in your absence, because I personally don’t believe in god and see no harm in saying “god damn it!”
However, I appreciate but don’t expect courtesy from people I don’t know. I don’t go out of my way to try and shock people by my language, but on the other hand I do not make extraordinary attempts to avoid offending the general public in my day-to-day conversation.
As another example, I personally don’t like the word “cunt” when used as a description of a woman. So I don’t use it because it offends me, and if a friend of mine uses it in my presence, I’ll let them know that I don’t appreciate it. But I don’t go around telling strangers not to use that word.
That may explain the motivation behind the “Movers and Shakers” but if it were not for religion, these things could not have happened. First, you would not have a religious multitude to carry out your nefarious, greedy plans. Second, without religion, there would not be one churchs striving to gain more power (as in your inquisition explanation).
IOW, honest to goodness religious reasons–i.e. we must convert the heathens–may not have been the motivation for the leaders of Europe to begin the Crusades. However, there were many foot soldiers (for lack of a better phrase) of the Crusades who believed they were killing for God. Therefore, on an individual level religion did cause many problems (like the problem of removing a fanatic’s spear from one’s gut).
