God or god ??? (page 3)

MissingLink

By your reasoning, would using "God" then be offensive to polytheists?

Hitler and Satan are names but god is a title. Specific god names should be capitalized: Zeus, Yahweh, Jehovah, Flying Spaghetti Monster, etc...

caliber

MissingLink,

I think it's fair to either Theist or Atheist could be respectful or disrespectful depend on the grammatical

situation see below pasted article which I believe is neutral and fair to both parties or points of view .

Indeed, it would be rather juvenile to misspell God simply in order to insult theists. If such an atheist had so little respect for another person, why even waste the time writing to them in the first place, much less deliberately trying to hurt them at the same time? While that may actually be the case with some atheists who write the word 'god' with a lowercase 'g,' it isn't the normal reason why atheists spell the word in this manner.

To understand why, we need only observe the fact Christians don't capitalize the 'g' and write about the Gods and Goddesses of the ancientGreeks and Romans. Is that an attempt to insult and denigrate those polytheistic beliefs? Of course not - it's grammatically correct to use a lowercase 'g' and write 'gods and goddesses'.

The reason is that in such cases we are talking about members of a general class or category - specifically, members of a group which gets the label 'gods' because people have, at one time or another, worshipped its members as gods. Any time we are referring to the fact that some being or alleged being is a member of this class, it is grammatically appropriate to use a lowercase 'g' but inappropriate to use an uppercase 'G' - just as it would be inappropriate to talk about Apples or Cats.

The same holds true if we are speaking very generally about Christian, Jewish, Muslim, or Sikh beliefs. It is appropriate to say that Christiansbelieve in a god, that Jews believe in a single god, that Muslims pray every Friday to their god, and that Sikhs worship their god. There is absolutely no reason to capitalize 'god' in any of those sentences.

On the other hand, if we are referring to the specific god-concept that a group worships, then it may be appropriate to use capitalization. We can say that Christians are supposed to follow what their god wants them to do, or we can say that Christians are supposed to follow what God wants them to do. Either works, but we capitalize God in the latter sentence because we are essentially using it as a proper name - just as if we were talking about Apollo, Mercury, or Odin.

Confusion is caused by the fact that Christians don't typically ascribe a personal name to their god - some use Yahweh or Jehovah, but that is pretty rare. The name they use happens to be the same as the general term for the class that being belongs to. It's not unlike a person who hasnamed their cat, Cat. In such a situation, there could be some confusion at times as to when the word should be capitalized and when it shouldn't. The rules themselves may be clear, but their application might not be.

Christians are accustomed to using God because they always reference it in a personal manner - they say that "God has spoken to me," not that "my god has spoken to me." Thus, they and other monotheists might be taken aback at finding people who don't privilege their particular god concept and so reference it in a general manner, just as they do with everyone else's god. It's important to remember in such cases that it is not an insult simply to not be privileged.

http://atheism.about.com/od/doesgodexist/a/capitalization.htm

so you see each of us can be wrong given the context of use !

When the Christian God is referred to in a personal manner(as a name) use G....when impersonal (general ) use your own privilege

Just remember the cat- Cat rule of grammer

Cal

caliber

"I'm afraid I will not capitalize the word god unless it occurs at the beginning of a sentence. There are lots of gods, yours is no more real than any of the others." ...Caedes

I agree there are lots of (G)ods ..why not capitalize all of them when using their name or when ( G)od is used as a proper name ? rules of grammar...

(1) all sentences begin with a capital letter

(2) The word god when use as a proper noun it should have a capital G

Others on this post got into the idea of respect ...my point was based on proper grammar

I feel to be consistent in your position either you would follow both rules or neither one .

Why not follow the rules as if you were working for a newspaper to be politically correct so to speak ?

Why should I show respect for your lone rule when there a many other rules of grammar ?

Cal

Caedes

Mainly because I am unlikely to refer to any theist's god in any other manner than as one of many gods. If I were to refer to a named god (ie, Zeus, Odin etc) then I would capitilize the name as per the rules of grammar. However by not using the word god as a name I avoid having to give undue deference to any make-believe entities.

As I said I do not respect the idea of the christian monotheistic god being the god of all religions, it gives the christian faith undue deference and may not be correct from the point of view of the other faiths concerned.

The point of the article is that it is perfectly correct for me to use the word god in reference to the deity of your particular faith in the way I do. If you wish to use the word god as a name then feel free to do so but do not expect me to follow suit. As far as I am concerned the word god is not a name and thus should not be capitilized since I do not accept the tenets of your particular faith.

Why should I show respect for your lone rule when there a many other rules of grammar ?

I could ask you the same question.

parakeet

Caliber: "(1) all sentences begin with a capital letter"

Whoopsie! End punctuation would be nice, too.

FlyingHighNow

What does an agnostic, dyslexic insomniac do?

Lies awake at night pondering whether or not there is a dog. (Dog)

I found that riddle, amongst three very profound pieces of graffiti, written on the wall of a gas station bathroom along interstate 20, traveling west towards Monroe, LA from Vicksburg, Mississippi.

It ain't God, ya'll, that's the bad thing. It's some of the different human conceptions of him that make him bad or evil. God, Great Spirit, Whatever name you want to give God or Goddess, it is human beings that make him/her evil. It's human beings that create harmful religions. Until you quit blaming god or God or The Gods or the gods or Gods and Goddesses or gods and goddesses, then your life is going to be hurt by by your own concepts of them. Even if you are atheist or agnostic. Put the blame squarely where it belongs, on the shoulders of ruthless, controlling, fear inspired, needing to be controlled and to control, human beings.

BurnTheShips

Mainly because I am unlikely to refer to any theist's god in any other manner than as one of many gods.

It seems to me that an ultimate thing is the only one of its kind: the Ultimate. It is not one of many, but the only one of its kind: that of which there is no greater. It seems to me that all religions that worship the Ultimate Thing, are not worshipping different things, but the same thing. Where they disagree is perhaps on attributes of the thing and the form of directing worship towards it, or history regarding it, but the thing itself is the same: the Ultimate Thing. The Christian god is not one among many, it is the only Ultimate Thing. None of the gods of the polytheistic pantheons is the Ultimate Thing. The Zeus of the Greeks had a beginning and limitations. Same with any of the Norse pantheon. So this distinction some atheists make makes no sense to me. Christians worship God, Jehovah's Witnesses worship God (who they name Jehovah), Muslims worship God (who they name Allah), Jews worship God, as do the other monotheists like Zoroastrians. All of them are God. So to bring the Ultimate Thing down to the level of other supernatural entities that are not Ultimate so as to make it one of many, is illogical. Ultimaticity is singular by definition. "God" is unique by definition, whether or not you believe it exists.

BTS