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Do you tend to use "God" or "god" online?

If I debate with theists, I tend to use "your god" or "the god of christianity". This way, I can avoid making them think that I acknowledge that their god "is THE God", but that I am just denying it. I de-throne their god and toss it into a clusterf*ck of other mythological beings.

I notice sometimes that other atheist debaters capitalize the word god, and I feel that the theists believe that this only confirms their gods' status. If we confirm their gods' status, then we are just rebels. How do you use the word "god"?

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Permalink Reply by mojo5501 on July 3, 2010 at 9:32am

I have decided that I will take information I have received here as advice and try to use the term "god of Abraham" because I'm almost always referring to the monotheistic "Yayweh" rather than any other supernatural being/s.

I thought God was a proper noun like 'Sally' or 'Doctor Who' but I will put more effort into giving less authority to the word now that I've thought about it more! I have been sloppy in the past, I admit it. And the whole gender thing...I usually refer to the god of Abraham in the masculine sense: HE, HIS, HIM. I will continue to do so only because that's how it's written by Christians, Jews, and Muslims. I don't personally believe, of course, that there IS a god of Abraham nor that there is a gender appropriate way to approach this!!! It just makes written discussion easier and using the term 'it' seems somehow improper grammatically speaking.

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Permalink Reply by AletheaT on July 3, 2010 at 9:45am

I just use god. He doesn't deserve the respect of capitalization. :D

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Permalink Reply by Dwayne P. Sharp on July 3, 2010 at 3:56pm

Never capitalize the word god. It is an affirmation many atheist tend to make because of their attempted indoctrination as children would be my guess. I have heard others say it is out of respect for others beliefs but how degrading to yourself. Recently I wrote an editorial to my local paper and had a HUGE response not to the content of the piece but to the fact I didn't capitalize god and addressed it as " the theory of a god". Topic was Florida's ban on gay adoption. Nevermind the thousands of kids that could go to good homes which was the body of the opinion and how children bear the weight of the cross and it's hatred. They were jumping up and down because I didn't use caps. Forget the social issue. I recommend the theory of a god be used whenever possible.

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Permalink Reply by Ariel S. on July 3, 2010 at 8:47pm

For me it really depends. When referring to "God" as the specific biblical character, I tend to capitalize it simply because I just see it as any other name, and names are capitalized. I do, however, tend to slip into the use of "god" even when referring to the character, nonetheless. But yeah, for all other intents and purposes, it's lower-case for me.

"He" or "him" or "his" is never capitalized when referring to God (or any other gods)...except, of course, at the beginning of a sentence.

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Permalink Reply by Marvin Jackson on July 5, 2010 at 11:38pm

I use god or a god

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Permalink Reply by John Kieffer on July 7, 2010 at 2:42am

The notion of the word "God" is, according to the theist's own definition, really a "THOUGHT-MONITORING INVISIBLE ALIEN" ... as in my stamp; drives theists nuts (as if they aren't already for, ummmm, believing in thought-monitoring invisible aliens)...

In fact, I've started a blog on this ...

http://noinvisiblealien.blogspot.com/

.

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Permalink Reply by Objection on July 7, 2010 at 3:19am

That reminds me... I have some dollar bills to play around with...

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Permalink Reply by Fabio on July 7, 2010 at 4:28am

I consistently reject any undue capitalisation. Lower-case "g" ftw!

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Permalink Reply by I am only me on July 16, 2010 at 9:56pm

to me 'g'od is an idea and doesn't deserve recognition as a proper noun. Even though there is a majority that believe otherwise, I am not going to dignify it by recognizing god as anything more than an idea.

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Permalink Reply by Adia Lynette on July 22, 2010 at 6:20pm

I think not capitalizing when talking about the character of God "to make a point" is really childish, quite frankly. It doesn't really get anything across. In fact, I'd wager it's just a way of zinging the theists under the guise of protesting the whole concept. I'm sure most of them just think you have poor grammar or are lazy typists. And to those who actually pick up on it, it just makes people look like a petty kid chuckling "I sure made dem theists mad wit my bad grammar! Look deys mad!" from behind the computer screen. Grow up and think about better and more effective ways of getting your point across...that is if you are actually trying to make a real point in the first place. If you just want to through pebbles, then please forgive me for this post. I actually thought you were trying to make a real difference in the battle against irrational thought.

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Permalink Reply by Logan Grado on July 24, 2010 at 12:40am

I always use god. It is simple: for some reason religions are afforded a level of respect seen nowhere else in any culture. No where else could someone make ridiculous claims without having to prove them first. But if you say "its my religion!" its a big no-no, you can't touch it. You have to respect it simply because they believe it, no matter how little proof they have.

This should change, religion should be afforded just as much respect as it earns. For this reason, I always type god. (I did this in my religion presentations at my catholic high school, which earned me some heat and questions, which are always fun. You wont learn to defend yourself better than in a room full of 30 catholics!)