how do i stop myself from saying things like....

die verdammte
Posts: 2
Joined: 2007-03-04
User is offlineOffline
how do i stop myself from saying things like....

how do i stop myself from saying things like...."oh my god" or "thank god"
"god forbid" "god only knows"

i do say good gracious! nowadays..."instead of good-god!"
but i have problems when people say to me "god be with you" or "i'll pray for you"

am sure this has been discussed before, yes? but what have you done to keep yourselves and your language a-theistic?


ThaiBoxerShorts
ThaiBoxerShorts's picture
Posts: 52
Joined: 2007-03-04
User is offlineOffline
I sometimes wonder about the

I sometimes wonder about the same thing.  I don't worry about it too much; sometimes cultural idioms just creep into our language, and that's okay.<p>I like Daniel Dennett's idea of replacing "thank God" with "thank goodness," and actually meaning it.  Goodness itself is indeed something that can be sincerely and honestly thanked when good things happen.<p>I also like Dennett's criticism of the whole "I'll pray for you" thing.  I just flat out tell people that I appreciate the sentiment, but I'd prefer if they spent their time doing something worthwhile.


KSMB
Scientist
KSMB's picture
Posts: 702
Joined: 2006-08-03
User is offlineOffline
ThaiBoxerShorts wrote: I

ThaiBoxerShorts wrote:
I sometimes wonder about the same thing. I don't worry about it too much; sometimes cultural idioms just creep into our language, and that's okay.<p>I like Daniel Dennett's idea of replacing "thank God" with "thank goodness," and actually meaning it. Goodness itself is indeed something that can be sincerely and honestly thanked when good things happen.<p>I also like Dennett's criticism of the whole "I'll pray for you" thing. I just flat out tell people that I appreciate the sentiment, but I'd prefer if they spent their time doing something worthwhile.

In the latest issue of Skeptical Inquirer Dennet said that he resisted the temptation of responding to people who pray for him with "Thanks, I appreciate it, but did you also sacrifice a goat?". I don't resist the temptation to say that any more Laughing out loud


Ophios
Ophios's picture
Posts: 905
Joined: 2006-09-19
User is offlineOffline
die verdammte wrote: but

die verdammte wrote:
but what have you done to keep yourselves and your language a-theistic?

It isn't atheistic, but I say Thoth instead of god.

 

Or sometimes gods in place. 

AImboden wrote:
I'm not going to PM my agreement just because one tucan has pms.


V1per41
V1per41's picture
Posts: 287
Joined: 2006-10-09
User is offlineOffline
My buddy and I (both

My buddy and I (both atheists of course) like to try and replace the word "science" everywhere that most people say "god".  Like "Oh my science" or "science damn it!"

"It is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring." - Carl Sagan


James Cizuz
James Cizuz's picture
Posts: 261
Joined: 2007-02-11
User is offlineOffline
Just say "Thank FSM" or "Oh

Just say "Thank FSM" or "Oh my Noodle" or "Noodles forbid" or "FSM only knows". People will be weirded out at first, but hey.. Yea.

"When I die I shall be content to vanish into nothingness.... No show, however good, could conceivably be good forever.... I do not believe in immortality, and have no desire for it." ~H.L. Mencken

Thank god i'm a atheist!


darth_josh
High Level DonorHigh Level ModeratorGold Member
darth_josh's picture
Posts: 2650
Joined: 2006-02-27
User is offlineOffline
Conditioned responses can

Conditioned responses can be conquered by simply recognizing them as such.

That doesn't mean that other non-religiously inspired conditioned responses aren't just as unhealthy.

For instance, I find that whenever a woman walks past me I am 99% likely to turn and inspect her backside and rate it according to my particular subjective 'scale'. I know this is purely a conditioned response either practiced by me or acquired from another source. By recognizing it as such I can take the power away from it at 'will'.

I think that is the trick just like they tell alcoholics that the first step is recognizing that there is a problem.

As far as religiously inspired conditioned responses then there is the second step. Knowing when to practice your escape from conditioning in a social setting.

Sneezing followed by someone saying 'god bless you' is the very first and easiest to explain conditioned response in my opinion. (In fact, one could make the case that my posting it here is a conditioned response. LMAO) I am a photic sneezer, a condition that manifests in 1 out of every 100 people, which means that sunlight affects the way that my sinuses function. I hear 'god bless you' so often that it starts conversations more often than 'hello'. I always begin with "Why do you say that?" Often, their response is that "It's the nice thing to do." or "I always have." I respond with "How did you come to the idea that you must say 'god bless you' when someone sneezes?" Their response(and this is the key) is "That's how I was raised." My next speech begins with something that will draw a laugh out of some and scorn from others. I follow with: "So, what if you had been raised to say 'MONKEY BALLS' whenever someone sneezed? Would you say that then?"

"Yes." "Well then if everybody said it, would that make it valid?" The conversation goes on from there correlating the training of children by adults with the training of adults by preachers etc.

 

"No." "Well why not?" Do you believe that you could overcome the indocrination of 'MONKEY BALLS' with reasons why it might seem offensive to others? And then correlate that with religious indocrination. The conversation proceeds at a breakneck pace now because you have found someone that will deny the obvious in favor of their own conditioned responses. Try to know when to give up so that you don't reach frustration level with this one. Make sure that your arguments are heard by others and you'll find a nodding head somewhere.

 

"god made you sneeze therefore he wanted you to be blessed." "Whoa. You propose that you know the will of god without asking her?" You have found a fundy and all bets are off. Tear into them with anything at this point. Make sure to remain calm and well-heard by anyone in the immediate audience. You're probability of this conversation progressing is low. However, those in the vicinity are now your sole responsibility to sway using this human tool to illustrate the idiocy of religion.

 

 

Atheist Books, purchases on Amazon support the Rational Response Squad server, which houses Celebrity Atheists.


HealingBlight
HealingBlight's picture
Posts: 256
Joined: 2006-04-13
User is offlineOffline
Jesus Christ, and it's

Jesus Christ, and it's variants, Jesus Fucking Christ, Jesus Motherfucking Christ, Jesus tapdancing Christ, Christ on a bike etc, I find to be just as strong exclamation statements as Fuck, shit, motherfucker, for fucks sake, shitting motherfucking fuck, fucking, bollox, feck, shite etc.

So I have no reason to stop saying them, because they sure as fuck change meaning to the original intent of the word. Smiling

-----------------------
I'll get back to you when I think of something worthwhile to say.


Yellow_Number_Five
atheistRRS Core MemberScientist
Yellow_Number_Five's picture
Posts: 1389
Joined: 2006-02-12
User is offlineOffline
die verdammte wrote: how do

die verdammte wrote:
how do i stop myself from saying things like...."oh my god" or "thank god" "god forbid" "god only knows" i do say good gracious! nowadays..."instead of good-god!" but i have problems when people say to me "god be with you" or "i'll pray for you" am sure this has been discussed before, yes? but what have you done to keep yourselves and your language a-theistic?

 

Short answer - you don't.

Such expressions pervade the culture around you, you grew up saying it, hearing it probably dozens of times a day - it's firmly cemented in your lexicon.

I don't see it as a big deal. I still say "Oh my god" at times or "Jesus Christ!" when I stub my toe. It's not as if I'm invoking these magical beings, I'ts simply a conditioned response. 

 However, when others say "I'll pray for you" they ARE invoking such things on your behalf - feel free to respond politely if you feel the need to. "God bless you" or "Bless you" after a sneeze could go either way - conditioned response or actual invocation - I usually find it's the former.

I don't try to make my language "more atheistic". I more concerned with meaning and intent than I am with appearances and sematics. 

I am against religion because it teaches us to be satisfied with not understanding the world. - Richard Dawkins

Atheist Books, purchases on Amazon support the Rational Response Squad server.


Vastet
atheistBloggerSuperfan
Vastet's picture
Posts: 13234
Joined: 2006-12-25
User is offlineOffline
You can coach yourself to

You can coach yourself to "unlearn" those terms from your vocabulary. It's difficult when others in your company still use them, but by no means impossible. Having moved around as much as I have I know there are a lot of expressions that I've forgotten I used to use, simply because it wasn't used where I moved to. If it's really important to drop them from your vocabulary(and some things were for me), then you just need to put effort and patience into it. The biggest trick is to examine all the terms you object to, then substitute terms you find acceptable for those you find unacceptable.
Example:

Oh my god >
Oh my stars
Oh my pants/whatever
etc

Enlightened Atheist, Gaming God.


thingy
SuperfanGold Member
thingy's picture
Posts: 1022
Joined: 2007-02-07
User is offlineOffline
This thread is actually

This thread is actually kinda funny. I would say ironic, but I don't think it quite is. You'd think if one was coming from a christian background (as I did) one wouldn't say "oh my god" or "jesus" as reactionary terms due to them being blasphemy and more importantly, specifically against the Ten Commandments. Ones parents would chastise it out of you.

Admittedly I did because I was a kid, there was this whole sense of rebelliuosness (is that even a word?) about using phrases like those along with other swear terms that my parents didn't like me saying.

So now you're no longer religious and blasphemy means nothing to you, you should simply no longer care about those terms and the inherant affects of using them. The commandments now mean bugger all to you, so what do you care? Use them all you like in the hope of a cheap laugh at seeing a christian cringe.

I am just offering another perspective here.  Another way to look at things.  What you end up doing will of course be entirely up to you.

Organised religion is the ultimate form of blasphemy.
Censored and blacked out for internet access in ANZ!
AU: http://nocleanfeed.com/ | NZ: http://nzblackout.org/


MrRage
Posts: 892
Joined: 2006-12-22
User is offlineOffline
I think it's fun to say

I think it's fun to say (around theists) "Oh, your god!"

To give credit where due: this was a line Bender used on a Futurama episode.


GreyhoundMama
GreyhoundMama's picture
Posts: 76
Joined: 2007-03-09
User is offlineOffline
me ...

I've been aware of my unbelief for as long as I can remember. As early as first grade, I refused to say the Pledge of Allegience because it said "one nation under god", so I felt it left me out. In those early years I lip synched it, for fear of getting in trouble. And in later years things loosened up until I could sit through it.

With that in mind, I've never said "god bless you" to a sneeze. I have said however you spell the german version. Gasundheight. I'm sure that's way wrong. As I understand it, it means simply "good health".

I admit that my parents were especially liberal and non-religious, but there are generally other things you can say in place of "bless you" or whatever.

As for the praying for me thing, these days I just nod or ignore it. I've found that anyone who's going to pray for a stranger isn't likely to be open to debate, and I'd rather spend my time on something that might actually affect change, or that is otherwise worth my time.

Karen and her hounds
creating art ~ creating a new life