Adam5 Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 Hi Folks, as a recent ex-C I'm a bit unsure how much respect I should show to my ex Brethren and their / my former beliefs? I notice on here ppl dont capitalise G of God or C of Christian? Is it rude not to do this? Theists and atheists on the internet both claim each other is intolerant. How much respect do you think should be shown to Christians and other Theists. Thanks Adam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JadedAtheist Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 I capitalize God and Christian and Allah and so forth because it's improper use of the written language to do so otherwise. Proper nouns are to be capitalised, plain and simple. Some people don't do it on purpose because they want to come across as disrespectful. As for respect in general, I don't froth at the mouth at religious people, though I might have a bit of a venomous tongue with Christians here Overall, do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Or however that goes 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ro-bear Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 Hi Folks, as a recent ex-C I'm a bit unsure how much respect I should show to my ex Brethren and their / my former beliefs? I notice on here ppl dont capitalise G of God or C of Christian? Is it rude not to do this? Theists and atheists on the internet both claim each other is intolerant. How much respect do you think should be shown to Christians and other Theists. Thanks Adam I'll give you the English teacher version. I capitalize "Christian" because it is a proper noun. Same with "Satanist". I capitalize "God" when used as a name for the fictional sky-daddy, because it is a proper noun. Same with "Allah". I do not capitalize any pronouns associated with a deity because that seems to concede that the thing is real or worthy of respect. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jake49 Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 I'm a recent ex-C too, have some thoughts to throw in! but don't really know to be honest... The whole, "respect others as you would like to be respected".. rings in my ear.. I have all sorts going on in my mind about all of this. But one thing that I'll throw in there, is this idea of "us and them"... I'm trying to see that there is no "us and them"... There's no christian problems, no atheist problems.. no USA problems or China or UK problems, or black problems... or white problems or womens problems, mens problems.... There's only human problems. There's only us. So the respect that we should show them, is the respect that all people deserve, that we deserve ourselves. Other than that, I guess each situation and context is different... To give one example of how I tried to respect as you say 'ex brethren'.... is by seeing my leaving the church and community I was part of as... "My journey is going this way, and their journey is going that way". I tried to focus on that, than other things. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FeelHappy Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 Well god can really be used for any generic deity and technically god's name is Yahweh so someone can use god lowercase without meaning disrespect. As for me I sometimes use gawd and jebus which I think both are pretty obviously disrespectful. As for being respectful it depends on the theist, I respect the respectful so if the theist isn't a fundamentalist better than thou person, I'll show him respect and capitalize / use correct spellings for their chosen deity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vigile Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 I purposely don't capitalize god and I use xian instead of Christian. It's not out of disrespect for believers, but for their belief, which I have utter contempt. No doubt some won't get the nuance here. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam5 Posted June 11, 2012 Author Share Posted June 11, 2012 I don't froth at the mouth at religious people, though I might have a bit of a venomous tongue with Christians here Hi Jaded, do you think religious people deserve more respect, or do they have a persecution complex? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam5 Posted June 11, 2012 Author Share Posted June 11, 2012 As for me I sometimes use gawd and jebus which I think both are pretty obviously disrespectful. Jebus always makes me think of Homer Simpson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjessen Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 One thing I think Doug was correct in, is that this site overall has a somewhat negative or disrespectful tone to it. I wouldn't call it hateful, but I would call it irreverent, and sometimes angry and spiteful toward religion and those who practice it in an oppressive manner. I think that is more a reflection of what the people here have been through and an expression of their hurt and anger rather than it being a reflection of who they are as people. But this site is irreverent. We've been through the mill with regard to religion and we've been hurt, some of us down to our very soul. We've been abused and we've been alienated from family and friends. We've been disrespected ourselves. Respect goes both ways. I think for many here, we have lost respect for those who practice fundamentalist Christian religion and we choose to express that in different ways, one being to not capitalize some religious words. I think this is probably more shocking to Christians than ex-Christians. I think we should just be ourself and not concern ourselves with how this looks to Christians. I have struggled with this issue and just capitalize Christians and God out of respect for proper English not for proper Christians. I don't have a problem with people who don't, probably because I understand their sarcasm and pain. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ConureDelSol Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 I think how you treat a theist generally depends on the theist. Generally, I will start out by being nice and civil if they haven't said anything just outright preachy. If they start preaching and being assholish, then, well, I either ignore them or if I'm in a debateful or angry mood, I decide to be assholish back. It's kind of hard not to be assholish to them sometimes though because you can say things here that many of us have to hold our tongues about in real life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam5 Posted June 11, 2012 Author Share Posted June 11, 2012 One thing I think Doug was correct in, is that this site overall has a somewhat negative or disrespectful tone to it. I wouldn't call it hateful, but I would call it irreverent, and sometimes angry and spiteful toward religion and those who practice it in an oppressive manner. I think that is more a reflection of what the people here have been through and an expression of their hurt and anger rather than it being a reflection of who they are as people. I agree. Thanks for explaining it such a clear manner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3DollarBill Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 One thing I think Doug was correct in, is that this site overall has a somewhat negative or disrespectful tone to it. I wouldn't call it hateful, but I would call it irreverent, and sometimes angry and spiteful toward religion and those who practice it in an oppressive manner. I explained to dougie, right after his first "poor persecuted me" post, that we don't dislike him for being a christian, we dislike him for being a prick. And as far as this site being irreverent...So fucking what!? Of course it's irreverent, we don't have anything to revere. I feel sorry for you if you're still being suckered by the cult, I really do. But I don't have to like you, and I certainly don't have to capitalize all the different names for your imaginary friend. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SusanStoHeli Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 The Christian God - it's a proper noun, and capitalized. The concept of god is a concept, not a proper noun, and I don't capitalize that. So it depends on context. Aside from that, I use lower case for words now and again just because I'm typing fast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
midniterider Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 Hi Folks, as a recent ex-C I'm a bit unsure how much respect I should show to my ex Brethren and their / my former beliefs? I notice on here ppl dont capitalise G of God or C of Christian? Is it rude not to do this? Theists and atheists on the internet both claim each other is intolerant. How much respect do you think should be shown to Christians and other Theists. Thanks Adam Give them the respect you would also like to be shown. If they want you to do something you don't feel comfortable doing, like leading a prayer or participating in a prayer or reading the bible just say you don't feel comfortable with that. Love your friends for who they are, not what they believe in. I imagine christians think it is rude to not capitalize their words like god and jesus and that's why people here spell this way. Xians capitalize Him also which I doubt is proper english but hey, this isn't english class. Now if I was writing a paid article about Christianity then I would make sure and spell check it, use 'correct' capitalization, etc. I'm more motivated towards the mainstream if money is involved. Here's a question, if some says 'goddammit' in mid-sentence should it be capitalized? How about "jesus h christ!" Is it a proper noun? Ask an xian if jesus h christ is a proper noun? lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeCoastie Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 I don't capitalize god. To me it feels as though capitalizing it would give god some kind of special recognition. I don't know who god is, and I'm not going to acknowledge their assumptions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vigile Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 I wouldn't call it hateful, but I would call it irreverent, and sometimes angry and spiteful toward religion and those who practice it in an oppressive manner. Yes, people here can be loving and caring people, but irreverent for sure. The anger tends to go away after a while, but the disrespect for the belief system seems to linger in most. It's mild now. You should have seen it 6-7 years ago. We soften as we age I guess. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LivingLife Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 The only deity I capitalise is the FSM. That is the true god - praaaize beee his noodliness - can I get a Ramen... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legion Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 I rarely capitalize the word "god". But I do capitalize "Christian". I try to extend some amount of respect to most Christians, because, afterall, they are people. In addition, I think showing respect throughout our disagreement makes a victory (as I define victory) more likely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FeelHappy Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 Speaking of this, is anyone here one of those people who used to write god G-D out of reverence (: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curtdude Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 I wouldn't call it hateful, but I would call it irreverent, and sometimes angry and spiteful toward religion and those who practice it in an oppressive manner. Yes, people here can be loving and caring people, but irreverent for sure. The anger tends to go away after a while, but the disrespect for the belief system seems to linger in most. It's mild now. You should have seen it 6-7 years ago. We soften as we age I guess. Hey Vigile - you are so right on. About the time I joined, whoo-boy the posts (including some of mine) were pretty Attack-Mode. And my 2cents on the subject is The Golden Rule - until someone tells me I'm going to hell. Them's fightin' words...hehehehe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exevolt Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 To be completely honest I only show respect to theists in public as my mother taught me to try not to rustle other peoples jimmies who haven't rustled yours. Though in my privacy I'm very anti-religion and believe religious people to be , especially New Agers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ro-bear Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 I wouldn't call it hateful, but I would call it irreverent, and sometimes angry and spiteful toward religion and those who practice it in an oppressive manner. Yes, people here can be loving and caring people, but irreverent for sure. The anger tends to go away after a while, but the disrespect for the belief system seems to linger in most. It's mild now. You should have seen it 6-7 years ago. We soften as we age I guess. Hey Vigile - you are so right on. About the time I joined, whoo-boy the posts (including some of mine) were pretty Attack-Mode. I remember those days. Once the initial trauma is past, I think we realize that most of our loved ones are still in the cult to one degree or another and try to have some perspective. I don't like Christianity (or any religion, to be honest), but I like most Christians just fine. I'm not going to change their minds, don't really want to, so why give them grief? But if they give me grief I sometimes turn nasty rather quickly. A ro-bear can only take so much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjessen Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 I wouldn't call it hateful, but I would call it irreverent, and sometimes angry and spiteful toward religion and those who practice it in an oppressive manner. Yes, people here can be loving and caring people, but irreverent for sure. The anger tends to go away after a while, but the disrespect for the belief system seems to linger in most. It's mild now. You should have seen it 6-7 years ago. We soften as we age I guess. Oh my, you guys would have scared me away back then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Positivist Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 Great question. I capitalize "Christian" because it is a proper noun. Same with "Satanist". I capitalize "God" when used as a name for the fictional sky-daddy, because it is a proper noun.. I'm with Ro-Bear largely, at least in mixed company or when trying to be understood by others. I do not capitalize any pronouns associated with a deity because that seems to concede that the thing is real or worthy of respect. I hate always saying "He", because it capitalizes the Male aspect of the so-called Godhead. "She" is never capitalized, and this has always bothered me. As such, I stopped capitalizing The Great Male Pronoun long before I deconverted. I love what Astreja does: capitalizes My, Myself, Me, and so on. I don't feel I am being disrespectful at Ex-C by saying "Gawd" or referring to Xians, because this is appropriate to this group. If dialoging with a Christian, however, I would probably use their language to avoid unnecessarily pissing them off over the wrong thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest wester Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 I try to meet theists in the spirit of empathy. I try to explain to them the thought processes they are engaging in to show them where their problems and inconsistencies lie. Sometimes it works and sometimes we can drop it and have a beer or a smoke. However, this is more often than not taken as a personal attack since their logic so frequently falls on its face. I find that outright condemnation sends people back to their battlements are you'll never get through to them. The capitalizing of The Lord Gawd A'mighty just gets all over my nerves. capitalizing every Him and His in the bible is a load of wankery. The only other place this convention appears is in SadoMasochistic relationships. A perfect analogy for the christian philosophy. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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