Zeus, Osiris and Krishna. These are 3 examples of what we would call “gods”. Yet Yahweh/Allah is !God". I know its a convention of language, but must it be? I mean, as atheists we consider the Abrahamic religions to be little more than cults clinging to a long dead mythology at this point, so why then do we fear to refer to this god among millions of others with a small g? What is with the lingering reverence?
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I use “god” rather than “God” even when referring to the Abrahamic god to counter the theists who insist on capitalizing words like he and his when referring to their god.
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Good question.
I use ‘god’ simply to be perverse. In my society, most people consider ‘god’ to be a proper noun and will use ‘God’
Orthodox Jews understand YHWH (Yahweh) to be the one God. However, they consider the name to be too sacred to be written or spoken. Instead they tend to say “Hashem” . (literally, “The name” ) In English, they may write G-D . There are a few other alternate Hebrew names for God if you’re interested.
Islam has 43 synonyms for “Allah”
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Trivia: “Allah” is actually two words: a= the llah=god
Judaism, Christianity and Islam are known collectively as “The Abrahamic religions” because they all trace their origin to the prophet Abraham, who all three faiths revere. They all worship the same creator god, YHWH (Yahweh) as the one true god.
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I merely reference it as “God” so the Christians will know which God I am referencing. They get to ignore ‘god’ as not belonging to the category of ‘God.’ Then again, why capitalize christian or church. Same reason I capitalize Atheist I guess. Simple convention an no ultimate meaning beyond that. Read into it what you like; however, without clarification, you would be the one making the error.
Same here. I will use god and bible instead of God and Bible to underline my dislike and disrespect. It depends on context, of course, but it happens particularly if I think it will annoy bible bashers. Also to annoy them, I tend to refer to god/God as ‘her’. No disrespect meant towards women, but to god/God/bible bashers. Kind of childish, I know, but that’s the way it goes – push the buttons that work.
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Old joke:
Astronaut returns to earth, after announcing that he saw God.
Reporter(breathlessly) : "Col Whitebread, " is it true that you saw god?
Colonel " Yes, indeed, I certainly did"
Reporter (even more breathlessly) " Could you tell us about your experience"
Colonel " Alrighty then. (he’s Canadian) There are going to be some changes. For a start, she’s black"
That dates to the 1970’s. I think even today there would be many ,many Americans appalled and terrified at such news.
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I get your point but its not as if if you say “god” to a christian they would ever think to seek further clarification as to which one you are referring to in particular, unless you were in a mythology class perhaps. Their tendency is to correct you and say “No, its God not god.” This is the problem I have.
Yes it is linguistic convention, but I think its more important to make a personal statement by using “god.”
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I’m in Korea, and don’t see a whole lot of US currency. It delights me to no end to black out the word God on all the bills. My way of being “child-like.” Should I have said… “one of my ways?”
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You can also change the G to D and d to g ⇒ In Dog we trust?
Did you hear about the dyslexic, agnostic insomniac? He stayed up all night wondering if there was a dog.
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Nonsense
I am not anti Christian or even anti religious. Have interest in making personal statements for the sake of making them. Nor do allow others to determine what I should do. . Please do not assume my needs/wishes/values are necessarily the same as yours.
In any case it’s moot. Australia is one of the most secular nations on earth. Religion doesn’t come up in polite society. It’s only fuckwitted proselytisers who will bring it up.
I belong a to a men’s group and have been member for 5 years. I have no idea about the religious beliefs of the other members, or if they have any. Nor do I care.
OKAYYY, dude. I said “I think”, I did not say “It is a fact that…”. I gave MY opinion which anyone has a right to do including you, which is why I do not begrudge you calling my opinion nonsense because that is your opinion.
I do not allow others to determine my actions either so good for both of us 
but in no way whatsoever did I make any “assumptions” about you or anyone else, I expressed a thought in response to what @Cognostic had said about his/hers personal statement with regards to this God vs. god issue.
It’s moot from your perspective, Australia neither is nor is representative of the whole world dude.
Most Christians think that when you say “god” or “God” they automatically assume that it’s “their god” we’re talking about. And after seeing all of the debates with Theists. Most of them use their “god” as an excuse for everything.
Ah, if only that were so here! In California, where I live, religion isn’t as in your face as it is in the bible belt, but it’s still very visible. It’s still nearly impossible to get elected to public office as an acknowledged atheist, even in more liberal states like California.
Just so. Neither is Africa.
It should be dog or god ?
Never said or even implied that homie.
Ummmm… Africa is a contenet… 54 Countries? Let’s not count Africa Out.
" The largest self-declared populations of the irreligious in Africa are found in Southern African countries such as South Africa, Mozambique, and Botswana."
Give them a chance…
Perfectly happy to. I’m aware that with some countries in South America, some African countries have the largest growth of Christianity at present.
Our little friend made some sweeping generalisations about Africa. I called him on them. He didn’t like it .El fucking stiffo.
The evasion that one doesn’t need to take care with one’s claims because [by inference] this is only an internet forum won’t wash with me.
Hahaha, ur funny boomer, I don’t get emotional about such trivial things as random debates on the internet, nor when otherwise thoughtful minds such as yours resort to abusive language and petty ad hominem attacks. But hey, whatever gets you through the night, you can call me whatever you like.
Are you sure about that? I would be fascinated to know where you are getting these statistics from so please kindly state your source. My father is a diplomat we moved around a lot. I spent six months in Maputo, Mozambique. I lived in Cape Town, South Africa, for 2 years while I attended Groote Schuur high school. I lived in Botswana for 5 years while I attended Maru-A-Pula High School and the university of Botswana.
I know what I am talking about and I stand by what I said. But, alas, y’all and your statistics seem to think you know better than me about countries you have never visited, and you boomer, even mistook the continent of Africa for a country so… I doubt you even have any statistics with which to “call me out”. You are pretty much like “you cant say that, its a sweeping generalization” without knowing any facts yourself. This is the mistake of people who are too quick to point out the fallacies of others, they end up committing falacies themselves. Nonetheless, I don’t feel the need to convince anyone of anything. Freedom of thought is something I strongly advocate for.
No matter what statistics I drudge up, I would never presume to know more about a country I have never visited than someone who has lived there for years. I will leave that to you.
Good day 