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First-World Atheist Problems (imgur.com)

submitted ago by Sketch257

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[–]supergenius1337 27 points28 points ago

Do you also not capitalize zeus, harry potter, santa claus, optimus prime, and thor? They're proper nouns. They're supposed to be capitalized. Fictional beings can be proper nouns.

[–]Cyl1d3 23 points24 points ago

THOR should always be written in all caps, sir.

[–]bojang1es 13 points14 points ago

He said fictional beings.

[–]supergenius1337 -1 points0 points ago

Oops.

[–]Antares42 -5 points-4 points ago

I usually do "their god", "the god", "the Christian god" or something like that, or "gods" when it's general.

[–]fizzletto 17 points18 points ago

I always capitalise God because it's a proper noun. The capitalisation was not invented out of religious respect for God; whether you like it or not, God is a name, so it is grammatically correct to capitalise it.

Capitalising the 'h' in 'he' when you're talking about God is, however, unnecessary.

[–]rockoman100 41 points42 points ago

I capitalize Zeus...it doesn't imply his existance.

[–]Antares42 21 points22 points ago

At least "Zeus" is a proper name. What a lame attempt at locking out the competition is it to call your god God? It's like Ford coming out with a new model named "Car".

:-/

[–]eekadeeka 25 points26 points ago

Actually, if you look at the etymology for the word Zeus, it comes from the Proto-Indo-European word "dewos" which means god (same word that Latin "deus" comes from). It is fairly common in languages for people to refer to a principal god as "God".

[–]vainamo- 10 points11 points ago

Don't you come in here with all your answers!!!

[–]Periculous22 1 point2 points ago

I capitalize Yahweh but not god.

[–]Owlsrule12 2 points3 points ago

Like Allah.

[–]Antares42 0 points1 point ago

Interesting.

I will also add that the English language does the same for other principal things like "our Sun", "the Earth we live on", etc., i.e. using a proper, name-like noun in its common noun form.

My native tongue of German does not have this (particular) problem. We capitalize all nouns. :-)

However, "God" is still also used in both its name-like form "God did such-and-such" and its common-noun form "I am the LORD your God".

[–]Enpoli 6 points7 points ago

Hmm.. You know I never really payed much attention to this before, but to me, "Earth" is the planet we live on and "earth" is just dirt.

[–]mecausasui 1 point2 points ago

that is a great idea

[–]Groat47 1 point2 points ago

They did. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Ka

[–]Antares42 0 points1 point ago

D'oh!

Right, right, I remember those. The first generation was breathtakingly ugly with its huge plastic ass, rivaled only by the first Fiat Multipla of roughly the same period that all but looked like a moray eel.

[–]JonasCarver 0 points1 point ago

I dunno. I kinda wonder the same thing about, "Yes? This is Dog."

[–]themcp 0 points1 point ago

Don't give them ideas.

[–]Zoorin 0 points1 point ago

Well I would capitalize Yahweh because that's his name. God is what he is. Same with Zeus I guess.

[–]TimetogetDownvoted 44 points45 points ago

I'm on board with not capitalizing 'he' when just because it refers to God, but fact is, even if God is a fictional character, if you're referring to a specific god who goes by the name 'God' it's just proper grammar to capitalize it.

[–]Knormy 7 points8 points ago

Depending on context, either can be right: There's "god" the concept and there's "God" the character.

[–]TimetogetDownvoted 5 points6 points ago

That's true, I actually came across both a capitalized 'G' and a lowercase 'g' in my response.

[–]LucidMetal 4 points5 points ago

I mean, god that's stupid.

[–]POW_PlayOnWords 2 points3 points ago

Capitalizing a name means nothing. I capitalize Hindu and Jesus, but that doesn't mean i believe in either of them. It's just a name.

Capitalize it! Or else, the Grammar Nazis will come for you!

[–]JackRawlinson 1 point2 points ago

Ridiculous. You capitalise it because it's the first word of the sentence, no other reason. This is not any kind of "problem". Those of us who refuse to capitalise it are only objecting to it being considered a proper noun.

[–]Hreinzi -1 points0 points ago

then start it with "About"

[–]cypherpunks 0 points1 point ago

Technically, when used as a proper noun identifying a specific individual (even a fictitious one), you do capitalize it. Allah, Dieu, Yahweh/Jehovah, God.

The use of the word as a name is ambiguous, but as long as you're allowing that, the capitalization is consistent with the usual rules of orthography.

When talking about a generic god (one of the set of Vishnu, Neptune, Odin, Horus, Ameratsu, Quetzalcoatl, ...), it's not capitalized.

One thing I like to do is say "I don't believe in gods", precisely to make clear that Yahweh is not alone in my esteem.

[–]PTech_J 1 point2 points ago

Referring to a god or many gods does not need to be capitalized. Referring to any god who is referred to as simply "God" does need to be. It's a name. Even if you don't believe in God, it's still his name.

Examples: Mr. Pole bought a new flag for his flag pole. Dr. Lions is not an actual lion. That big guy on the bike goes by the name Snake, because he has a pet snake, and several tattoos of snakes. Also, from what I hear, a large trou-

...that's enough examples, you get the point.

[–]TheCrazedChemist 0 points1 point ago

I capitalize it anyway... Some people are just so sensitive about it that they'll get on you for not capitalizing it, and it's really just not worth the trouble certain people will give you, even if it's laughably stupid to get worked up over it. Though then again I also usually capitalize Gods and their names when referring to the pagan ones, so it all kinda balances out, or something.

[–]BuddhaLennon -1 points0 points ago

Okay, this is perfect! Atheists taking the piss out of ourselves rather than slagging others. :) this on has had me chuckling all morning, GUILT FREE!

[–]Owlsrule12 0 points1 point ago

I never make a specific effort to capitalize god. If my iPhone auto capitalizes the first word of the sentence, I leave it. I found a website with a guy (or girl, wasn't sure) who used to be an atheist and wondered why they couldn't stop arguing about god and thinking about it. Came to the conclusion that it was god making his presence known and is now Christian. Wrong. This person was simply thinking too much about god. I don't think much; I don't pay attention to the capitalization of god.

[–]Incognitogamer 0 points1 point ago

Just capitalize it as you would any other word. If using it as a proper nound it should be capped, if not lower case it. Simple. Don't even get me started on people who capitalize "he" when referring to him. Learn some god damn English you freaks.

[–]dumnezero -1 points0 points ago

Use "The god" or "The god of [X]"

[–]cafink -1 points0 points ago

Rewrite the sentence.

[–]notruescotchman 1 point2 points ago

Fixed:

http://i.imgur.com/Aei3V.png

[–]Azara1th 1 point2 points ago

If you're referring to God as in Yahweh or the Christian god, then it's grammatically correct to capitalize. If you are referring to a nameless deity, don't capitalize. Not that hard...

[–]JTHipster 0 points1 point ago

why did you post this? The bandwidth you used uploading this image could've been saved.

You are killing the internet with this shit..

[–]ihopeirememberthisun 0 points1 point ago

Your god...

[–]leveraction1970 -1 points0 points ago

Fuck that noise. I will always rearrange the sentence, or add and adjective, "Your god."

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point ago

God is a name.

So it's not bowing to anything to capitalize it.

God is a god named God.

He's like a human named Human.

[–]johnny107 0 points1 point ago

Have we finally reached a level of pettiness where proper grammar is offensive to us?

[–]gakkgakk 0 points1 point ago

I usually call him "the god". I just realized that that does not translate well to English. But let me try to explain. If I talk about a bible story, i say "and then the god told".

[–]Fearfultick0 0 points1 point ago

I purposely put a lowercase g in god on my history test even though i knew that i would get the question wrong because of it.

[–]Jeezafobic 0 points1 point ago

Great first world level stressor! I do mental health assessments, and of course people suffering from schizophrenia and other psychoses often attribute things to the culturally highly charged agents like god or the CIA, etc. For fun I'll throw in a "misspelling," like: "The patient says he was unable to sleep for days because Jebus was constantly accusing him of being an enemy from another planet."

[–]Kauppaneuvos -4 points-3 points ago

God is great, you should all study Jesus.

[–]WorkingMouse 0 points1 point ago

Add "your"; problem solved.

[–]Popeye74 -2 points-1 points ago

I laughed;) Vote for you

[–]squigs 0 points1 point ago

Just like there are many streets called "The Street", the dog in good Omens is called Dog, and Tarzan's son is called Boy, the Christian god is called "God". Use a capital or say "gods" or "a god".

[–]citypig88 0 points1 point ago

just write it differently

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