Please stop disrespecting other believers

[Akivah]

This is a general debates section, and here many members are theists without being Abrahamic theists (Christians, Muslims, Jews). Yet many folk put "God" in thread title while only referring to the Abrahamic God. Nobody would do this if they were instead referring to God of Hinduism, Deism, Sikhism etc. I feel that this reflects an attitude that other faiths and beliefs don't matter.

If you feel that this is a fair criticism, I would request everybody to please specify whose God you are referring to when posting on the General section. Thank you.

This is not a fair criticism. When people post, they are posting their own opinions based on their own education, experience, beliefs, and circumstances. It is unfair to say that every post has to include beliefs of everyone else. It is the beauty of this website, that others with differing beliefs are able to post their responses based on their own beliefs.

Rather than interpreting every post that doesn't mention your beliefs as an insult, understand that the poster is posting about their own beliefs.

 

[Akivah]

For me, when I refer to god (no caps) it's any person and object of worship. When I refer to God (caps) most times I say abrahamic but when I don't, it means the abrahamic god. If I'm referring to a specific theist religion, I won't say god, I'd say Brahma, Ordin, or Hecate.

I wouldn't get to bothered about it. Just know that most who speak of other religious gods will use the name of the god within that specific religion.

I spell the entity that I worship as 'G-d'. When I refer to the entities that others worship, the spelling that is I use is 'god'. Different spellings are needed for clarity in my posts.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Here is something then.

God (word) - Wikipedia

The development of English orthography was dominated by Christian texts. Capitalized, "God" was first used to refer to the Judeo-Christian concept and may now signify any monotheistic conception of God, including the translations of the Arabic Allāh, Persian Khuda, Indic Ishvara and the African Maasai Engai.

Keep reading:

In the English language, capitalization is used for names by which a god is known, including 'God'. Consequently, its capitalized form is not used for multiple gods (polytheism) or when referring to the generic idea of a deity.[12][13]

This is my approach, personally. I only captialize "God" when using it as a name. And I only do that when the god in question is named "God."

Also

Definition of GOD


capitalized : the supreme or ultimate reality: such as a : the Being perfect in power, wisdom, and goodness who is worshipped as creator and ruler of the universe

Yes: that's what "God" refers to in Abrahamic religions. It doesn't mean that the word "God" applies every supreme being.

Consider the definition for "prime minister":

The head of an elected government; the principal minister of a sovereign or state.

prime minister - definition of prime minister in English | Oxford Dictionaries

Despite the fact that the American president is the head of an elected government, he is not a prime minister. Something similar is happening with the word "God":

- if someone says "God", you know they're talking about a supreme being.
- however, this doesn't mean that all supreme beings are referred to as "God."

Short version: when people don't use the term "God" the way you want, it's often because they disagree with you about semantics, not because they're being disrespectful.

 

[sayak83]

Keep reading:


This is my approach, personally. I only captialize "God" when using it as a name. And I only do that when the god in question is named "God."


Yes: that's what "God" refers to in Abrahamic religions. It doesn't mean that the word "God" applies every supreme being.

Consider the definition for "prime minister":


prime minister - definition of prime minister in English | Oxford Dictionaries

Despite the fact that the American president is the head of an elected government, he is not a prime minister. Something similar is happening with the word "God":

- if someone says "God", you know they're talking about a supreme being.
- however, this doesn't mean that all supreme beings are referred to as "God."

Short version: when people don't use the term "God" the way you want, it's often because they disagree with you about semantics, not because they're being disrespectful.

Does the Wikipedia article not say that Supreme beings of several monotheistic faiths is translated in English as God? That is the point I am making. It's a very common practice to do this in English speaking non Abrahamic communities where non-Abrahamic theistic faiths exist.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Does the Wikipedia article not say that Supreme beings of several monotheistic faiths is translated in English as God? That is the point I am making. It's a very common practice to do this in English speaking non Abrahamic communities where non-Abrahamic theistic faiths exist.

The point I'm making is that regardless of whether your approach is common, my approach is common, too, and it conveys no disrespect.

I'm not telling you to adopt my usage. I'm trying to tell you to respect the fact that other people's usage of the term is as valid as yours.

I'm not saying that there's only one way to use the word "God"; you're the one doing that.

 

[sayak83]

The point I'm making is that regardless of whether your approach is common, my approach is common, too, and it conveys no disrespect.

I'm not telling you to adopt my usage. I'm trying to tell you to respect the fact that other people's usage of the term is as valid as yours.

I'm not saying that there's only one way to use the word "God"; you're the one doing that.

No, you misunderstand me. I am not telling anyone to do anything. But highlighting the fact that in many international communities God is used to refer to the Supreme Being of any theistic faith and this has become an accepted usage. Now people here know this is the case. A "raising of consciousness" so to speak. Whether one takes this into consideration or not in future posts here is upto them. Apart from this thread, where I will defend this way of using the word God, and gently persuade people to think about adopting it, you will not see me complaining about it anywhere else.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

No, you misunderstand me. I am not telling anyone to do anything.

Yes, you are. Check your thread title and OP.

 

[sayak83]

Yes, you are. Check your thread title and OP.

I am pretty sure the words request and please are in there. Still too strong?

 

[Curious George]

What about The Universe?

While it is tangential, yes that includes the universe because I would argue that the universe does not fit within a workable conception of "god."

 

[Sundance]

While it is tangential, yes that includes the universe because I would argue that the universe does not fit within a workable conception of "god."

Fair enough, CG.

 

[Sanzbir]

This is a general debates section, and here many members are theists without being Abrahamic theists (Christians, Muslims, Jews). Yet many folk put "God" in thread title while only referring to the Abrahamic God. Nobody would do this if they were instead referring to God of Hinduism, Deism, Sikhism etc. I feel that this reflects an attitude that other faiths and beliefs don't matter.

If you feel that this is a fair criticism, I would request everybody to please specify whose God you are referring to when posting on the General section. Thank you.

I almost feel as if this is a reasonable request, but when taken to its logical conclusion I think it would make communication difficult and it seems a bit unreasonable.

My Faith's definition of "heaven" does not match the typical definition. Heaven is not even about the afterlife, in my religion, whereas in (I think) every other religion with a concept of "heaven" it is either an afterlife or an abode of the divine. But most commonly it refers to an afterlife.

Were I to embrace your ideas to their fullest extent, it would imply that I should demand everyone who wants to use the term "heaven" needs to specify "which heaven" they are referring to, or else they are "disrespecting" me.

But I don't feel disrespected when people use "heaven" to denote a common conception of an afterlife because that's what the term commonly means to people and it is ridiculously clear from context what the person means by "heaven" when they use that term.

I talk with Mormons not infrequently due to me being interested in comparative theology, leading me to be one of the few people welcoming to door-to-door missionaries, and from our talks it is evident that we both have widely varying definitions of what constitutes a "prophet". Yet we don't need to specify, constantly in our communications, which kind of "prophet" we are talking about when talking, it is clear from context what is meant.