Atheists using phrases with God in them

tech77

Just curious:
Do atheists use phrases like:
God only knows, Thank God, God love you (i'm guessing not that one)
Oh my God/OMG!!, Heaven-sent, Heaven's above etc etc.

Wouldn't a committed atheist have banished these from their lexicon altogether.

BTW i didn't put this in the Atheism forum because it's more a trivial musing than anything else.

AlmightyCushion

If they do it's more a force of habit than anything else.

Driver 8

Just use them like Bender in Futurama-

"Oh...your...god!"

Rabies

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

If they do it's more a force of habit than anything else.

What he said.

I was rasied a catholic like most people here. Sayings and phrases get stuck in every day use.
No harm.

tech77

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

If they do it's more a force of habit than anything else.

A bad habit for them you would think.

JIZZLORD

as long as the phrase "holy mary, mother of god" is banished i'll be fine

Pyr0

Generally young people in Ireland are brought up believing in Jesus, God, Holy spirit etc and so are used to using the words "God" in such phrases like the ones above. So when they are able to decide whats right for themselves, phrases like that don't really matter in the religious sense. So I agree it'd just be a habit they grew up with.

biko

I also say "Inshallah" occasionally

JIZZLORD

well holy god!

tech77

Pyr0 wrote: »

Generally young people in Ireland are brought up believing in Jesus, God, Holy spirit etc and so are used to using the words "God" in such phrases like the ones above. So when they are able to decide whats right for themselves, phrases like that don't really matter in the religious sense. So I agree it'd just be a habit they grew up with.

But would a fellow atheist frown on this habitual use.
Say Atheist 1 said "God bless you" or "God love you" to Atheist 2 would Atheist 2 be a bit embarrassed and give him a funny look.

There must be some phrases that atheists would not use that believers do.

Pyr0

Nah I wouldn't say so, unless they were Fundamentalist Athiests or something crazy like that ! Its just a normal thing to say IMO.

AlmightyCushion

tech77 wrote: »

But would a fellow atheist frown on this habitual use.
Say Atheist 1 said "God bless you" or "God love you" to Atheist 2 would Atheist 2 be a bit embarrassed and give him a funny look.

There must be some phrases that atheists would not use that believers do.

They'd probably laugh about. I can't see anyone getting pissed off at something so stupid and is obviously a mistake.

Sangre

well since none of these deities actually exist its pretty inconsequential whether someone uses their name or not. its not like its a blasphemoy against the atheist overlord.

Jigsaw

I am an Irish Protestant. Using the word God is just through habit for God's sake.

tech77

Pyr0 wrote: »

Nah I wouldn't say so, unless they were Fundamentalist Athiests or something crazy like that ! Its just a normal thing to say IMO.

Is there any other kind (well leaving aside the crazy bit..).
I thought Atheism was Atheism.

monkeyfudge

I'd be prone to a 'fer christ's sake' from time to time....

It's just a common phrase.. doesn't mean anything... I don't think there are any other phrases I'd use though...

flogen

Shouldn't it be the believers whom are more concerned with using phrases like the above, what with the whole "thou shalt not take thy lord's name in vain" thing?

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

what a godawful thread

robindch

tech77 wrote:

Wouldn't a committed atheist have banished these from their lexicon altogether.

As somebody over in A+A said recently, atheists will stop invoking deities they don't believe exist, when christians stop calling the days of the week after Norse gods that they don't believe exist.

Having said that though, It'll be a cold day in hell before I'll go back to christianspeak.

Driver 8

Was the use of the word hell there intended to be ironic?

Tusky

I say oh my god all the time but I'm referring to Thor.

tech77

Anyone here ever use the expression "For the love of Science!" or similar expressions.

Bounty Hunter

surprised nobody has mentioned the south park episode "go god go" - where the atheists replace god with the word science in these phrases "praise be to science"

edit: damn tech77 kinda beat me to it

tech77

Fair enough.
But I wonder do people who are born and reared atheist tend to avoid the use of religious terms in a given culture's language as much as possible.

Sinfonia

Bounty Hunter wrote: »

surprised nobody has mentioned the south park episode "go god go" - where the atheists replace god with the word science in these phrases "praise be to science"

edit: damn tech77 kinda beat me to it

lol i love that one.
OH...MY...Science.

Bounty Hunter

tech77 wrote: »

Fair enough.
But I wonder do people who are born and reared atheist tend to avoid the use of religious terms in a given culture's language as much as possible.

im sure they do but that could be as much to do with how people would always annoying say but you dont believe in such and such after every one of those expletives they said

Dirk Gently

I'm an atheist and I do use phrases like "God only knows" and some others from time to time, purely just as a common way to express myself. I do sometimes kick myself when I realise I've used such terms.

I am of course refering to Robbie Fowler when I mention God though.

remus808

tech77 wrote: »

Wouldn't a committed atheist have banished these from their lexicon altogether.

What's next? "Vegetarians looking at animals"?

Silly, silly, smartarse thread: It's a habit- end of.

tech77

karmabass wrote: »

What's next? "Vegetarians looking at animals"?

Silly, silly, smartarse thread: It's a habit- end of.

No, wasn't intended that way at all TBH.

I'm just interested in the connections between religious belief/atheism, culture and cognition/language.

What i've gathered is:
Many posters here who were raised catholic (but later became atheist) say, it's a habitual thing only.
In other words ingrained through culture growing up and retained in language albeit only semantically vestigial (ie without any real meaning for them).

So then we move onto those reared atheist:
Semantically God/Heaven etc would have no meaning for them from the outset so i guess they would still not use phrases with religious terms in them even if the pervasive culture around them was religious

I'm still waiting to hear their view to confirm this.
But If they did start using religious terms, It'd be a bit like a Christian using phrases with Allah etc in them after spending time in a Muslim country wouldn't it?

chopperbyrne

I'm a big fan of using a Miley inspired and in thick accent "O Holy God!"

Terry

I was brought up Catholic, but I wouldn't call myself an Athiest.

I don't believe in any form of higher being, but I don't like to be lumped in with one group or another.

I also use christian teminology in every day use.
It helps when people understand what you're talking about.