On Capitalization

[cnorman18]

A small matter that has bothered me for some time, not as a theist but as a grammarian, is the rather studied and deliberate manner in which some on this board refuse to spell the word "God" with a capital letter when it refers to the God of Christianity or Judaism.

When referring to multiple gods, e.g. the Greek gods, or to unspecified "gods" in general, the uncapitalized form is perfectly proper; but when referring, as is most commonly the case here, to the Judeo-Christian God, it ought to be spelled properly, as "God," because it is in effect a proper name. That practice does not indicate belief or even respect; that is simply the way it's spelled.

Muslims do not typically use that term, preferring "Allah," and I do not notice anyone refusing to capitalize that. Again, that's simply the way it's spelled. No one assumes it means you believe in Allah when you trouble to spell it right.

Refusing to capitalize the word strikes me as petty and more than a little childish, nothing more than a calculated bit of provocation and disrespect. And it's silly. After all, you don't even see the most irrational and wrongheaded of fundamentalists and YECs referring to "charles darwin."

The word is "God." Spell it properly. No one's going to mistake you for a Baptist.

Debate question is obvious. Someone's going to try to defend this bit of petty nonsense.

(For the record, "rabbi" is not capitalized, except when used as a personal title: "my rabbi," as opposed to "Rabbi Stein." "Jew" and "Jewish," on the other hand, are always capitalized, in any form or context, but "synagogue" is not.)

I once taught English as well as mathematics. You don't have to respect God, but you ought to respect the language.

[bernee51]

A small matter that has bothered me for some time, not as a theist but as a grammarian, is the rather studied and deliberate manner in which some on this board refuse to spell the word "God" with a capital letter when it refers to the God of Christianity or Judaism.

When referring to multiple gods, e.g. the Greek gods, or to unspecified "gods" in general, the uncapitalized form is perfectly proper; but when referring, as is most commonly the case here, to the Judeo-Christian God, it ought to be spelled properly, as "God," because it is in effect a proper name. That practice does not indicate belief or even respect; that is simply the way it's spelled.

Muslims do not typically use that term, preferring "Allah," and I do not notice anyone refusing to capitalize that. Again, that's simply the way it's spelled. No one assumes it means you believe in Allah when you trouble to spell it right.

Refusing to capitalize the word strikes me as petty and more than a little childish, nothing more than a calculated bit of provocation and disrespect. And it's silly. After all, you don't even see the most irrational and wrongheaded of fundamentalists and YECs referring to "charles darwin."

The word is "God." Spell it properly. No one's going to mistake you for a Baptist.

Debate question is obvious. Someone's going to try to defend this bit of petty nonsense.

(For the record, "rabbi" is not capitalized, except when used as a personal title: "my rabbi," as opposed to "Rabbi Stein." "Jew" and "Jewish," on the other hand, are always capitalized, in any form or context, but "synagogue" is not.)

I once taught English as well as mathematics. You don't have to respect God, but you ought to respect the language.

For my part it is a combination of laziness and stubborn bloodymindedness. I normally refer to the entity of which you speak as the JCI god. This I have, over time, shortened to 'god'.

Your point, however, is valid. In the sense that it is used by Christians, God is a proper name and should be capitalized.

OTOH is it not just a little presumptuous of Christians that they believe that their god is the only god and is entitled to be called God rather than some other contrived name?

You must be aware, however, that Allah is contraction of Arabic Al Ilah meaning 'the deity'. This deity - like the Christian god - is a concept that has evolved from earlier 'incarnations'

[byofrcs]

I agree if we're referring to the English language. I cannot comment much on the capitalisation rules in other languages. I know Italian doesn't capitalise as much as English does.

As a native English language speaker with a case-sensitive Unix background I spell the Christian god as God, the Muslim god as Allah and other gods with capitalised first names e.g. Thor and Zeus. Also Satan is spelt with capital 'S' too as is the other fictional bad-guy being, Sauron from the Lord of the Rings.

An important note to others is that the correct use of capitalisation isn't evidence of existence of what you capitalise; it just proves the non-existence of the shift key on your keyboard.

[cnorman18]

For my part it is a combination of laziness and stubborn bloodymindedness. I normally refer to the entity of which you speak as the JCI god. This I have, over time, shortened to 'god'.

Your point, however, is valid. In the sense that it is used by Christians, God is a proper name and should be capitalized.

OTOH is it not just a little presumptuous of Christians that they believe that their god is the only god and is entitled to be called God rather than some other contrived name?

Well, we capitalize "Deity," too. Whatever other name they chose, I would assume it would be capitalized. It would be a name, not a generic term. If they called God "Howard," it would remain His name.

(On the capitalization of the pronoun, I am not so exercised. That seems to me to imply respect and reverence, and I would not expect it from atheists. Besides, I forget it often enough myself.)

Anybody's assumptions are hardly the point. Accepted usage is accepted usage.

You must be aware, however, that Allah is contraction of Arabic Al Ilah meaning 'the deity'. This deity - like the Christian god - is a concept that has evolved from earlier 'incarnations'

So what? In written English, it remains a proper name, and is thus capitalized.

The only thing I know of an etymological nature about the name of the God of Islam (see there, I'm not exclusive about it) is that the "ll" sound in Allah is found nowhere else in the Arabic language. Is that correct?

[cnorman18]

I agree if we're referring to the English language. I cannot comment much on the capitalisation rules in other languages. I know Italian doesn't capitalise as much as English does.

On the other hand, the Germans go a bit overboard. If I recall correctly, in German all nouns are capitalized. One eats "ein Bratwurst."

As a native English language speaker with a case-sensitive Unix background I spell the Christian god as God, the Muslim god as Allah and other gods with capitalised first names e.g. Thor and Zeus. Also Satan is spelt with capital 'S' too as is the other fictional bad-guy being, Sauron from the Lord of the Rings.

As a point of interest, belief in the existence of a literal, personal Satan is not prescribed by any religion I know of. He isn't mentioned in any of the Christian Creeds, and in Judaism he plays a rather different role anyway.

An important note to others is that the correct use of capitalisation isn't evidence of existence of what you capitalise; it just proves the non-existence of the shift key on your keyboard.

Very well put. I would expect someone who claims he doesn't capitalize "God" because "it's too much trouble" to capitalize nothing at all. Of course, there are some who do just that.

[bernee51]

For my part it is a combination of laziness and stubborn bloodymindedness. I normally refer to the entity of which you speak as the JCI god. This I have, over time, shortened to 'god'.

Your point, however, is valid. In the sense that it is used by Christians, God is a proper name and should be capitalized.

OTOH is it not just a little presumptuous of Christians that they believe that their god is the only god and is entitled to be called God rather than some other contrived name?

Well, we capitalize "Deity," too.

There is a difference between 'a deity' and 'the Deity' is there not?

Whatever other name they chose, I would assume it would be capitalized. It would be a name, not a generic term. If they called God "Howard," it would remain His name.

I'd rather not call the Christian god 'Howard'. We just got rid of one of those.

Anybody's assumptions are hardly the point. Accepted usage is accepted usage.

No argument there. If enough people do not capitalize accepted usage will change. Not that I can see that happening - nor am I recommending it as a course of action.

You must be aware, however, that Allah is contraction of Arabic Al Ilah meaning 'the deity'. This deity - like the Christian god - is a concept that has evolved from earlier 'incarnations'

So what? In written English, it remains a proper name, and is thus capitalized.

Yes (?)

The only thing I know of an etymological nature about the name of the God of Islam (see there, I'm not exclusive about it) is that the "ll" sound in Allah is found nowhere else in the Arabic language. Is that correct?

As far as I understand it, it is a definite article. Most of the 99 names of God, the Asma’ Allah al-Ḥusná, have 'al' as a prefixx

[Fallibleone]

How do you feel about people who, when referring to God, speak of His and Him?

[McCulloch]

The English grammatical rule is that if you use a regular noun such as father or god as if it were a name, then it should be capitalized.

I got my liking for philosophy from Father.
Our father, who art in heaven.
I don't believe in any gods.
Ferdinand thought God would listen to his prayer.

There was once a rule, but it is going out of favour, that all pronouns referring to the one god (but never to the pagan gods) should be capitalized.

So, I'll put my faith in Him would be correct if God is being referred to but I'll put my faith in him if you are talking about Odin or Zeus. I don't think that is a very good rule.

[cnorman18]

How do you feel about people who, when referring to God, speak of His and Him?

That too is merely common usage. Judaism has always acknowledged that God has no gender and encompasses both male and female characteristics, as does every modern Christian theologian of which I have ever heard. In Hebrew there is even a term to denote the feminine aspect of God, Shekhinah. That was the term used, in fact, to denote the manifestation of God's presence in the First Temple, said to appear over the Ark, and missing in the Second. No one today knows if that reference was to a literal, visible something, or a symbolic reference. Most indications are that it was the former, but that's hard to credit; no one ever saw the Ark but the High Priest, once a year, when the room was to be filled with incense smoke.

The use of "He" is more a matter of language than anything else. The inconvenient fact is that there is no appropriate personal pronoun, in either English or Hebrew, for a person of indeterminate gender. "It" is no more proper when speaking of God than it would be when speaking of a human being.

One may attribute that to the sexist nature of human society for most of human history, and I would have no argument with that; but it's a little late in the day to try to change it now. I recall that back in the Sixties there was an effort to popularize the term "jhe" to replace "she" and "he." It didn't catch on.

[MagusYanam]

Actually, I think the capitalisation of the pronouns came out of a lexical error, probably during the Baroque period. Earlier versions (such as the KJV) did not have capitalised pronouns referring to God, and capitalised pronouns are again falling out of general use (for example, the NRSB does not use capitalised pronouns for God).

On the other hand, capitalising God has been standard practise for over four hundred years, so I'll continue calling God 'God' and using lowercase pronouns to refer to him.