December 23, 2005

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Oh My God!

I keep hearing myself saying, "Oh my God!"

And then I pause, and think to myself, "Wait a minute. I'm an atheist. "Oh my God" is completely meaningless." Today it occurred to me that maybe I should stop saying it. I kind of feel like saying "Oh my God" perpetuates the breathtaking inanity of the fairy tale that is religion. I don't believe in God.

But I'm conflicted.

On one hand, I really like the fact that saying "Oh my God" is more or less explicitly prohibited by the Ten fictional Commandments, and that saying it therefore is very disrespectful to religious people, and amounts to flaunting my own freedom from being afraid of such superstitions. I derive great pleasure from occasional blasphemy.

But at the same time, I dislike that in saying "Oh my God," I am explicitly claiming this "God" as my own, even if I don't mean it. And I dislike it because it promotes the normality of a belief in the existence of God, even if it doesn't actually promote the belief that he does exist. I think I have perhaps been misguided in my indulgence in blasphemy. Not because it rude, but rather because practicing blasphemy is an acknowledgement of the belief that God exists, and I'm not sure that belief deserves acknowledgement.

If some group started worshipping the Easter Bunny and claimed that nothing made Him madder than when people say, "The Easter Bunny" in vain, would we acknowledge such a group with even the small amount of respect implicit in mocking them? Perhaps not. We'd probably lock them away.

In any case, I think I would like to stop saying, "Oh my God." If not for the reasons listed above, simply because it is an idiom so mired in cliche and so misused and meaningless that everyone who actually believes in the efficacy of the phrase feels uncomfortable saying it (or should). So, if you catch me saying it, please call me on it.

In lieu of "Oh my God," I propose to make use of any of the following phrases:

Posted at December 23, 2005 6:32 AM | Comments (7)


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if i ever hear you say "oh my cock," i will almost definitely pee in my pants with laughter.

Posted by: jeanette at December 23, 2005 9:08 AM


Oh your cock is right. That's what I want for Christmas.

Posted by: Your boyfriend at December 23, 2005 3:53 PM


"because practicing blasphemy is an acknowledgement of the belief that God exists, and I'm not sure that belief deserves acknowledgement."

You're the first person I've ever known to have meta-blapshemed.

Posted by: Daniel at December 23, 2005 4:45 PM


heh...I'm the same way...actually, it was after I started wondering about whether saying "Oh my God" actually made any sense that I started saying "Jesus Christ" when something seemed egregiously wrong. I mean...I'm sure it makes me a bad person, but I think it's a little funny, and...it's so easy to get into the habit of using new bad words.

Posted by: lsmsrbls at December 24, 2005 1:42 AM


Yeah, "Jesus Christ" for when things are egregiously wrong makes sense. Pretty hilarious. Thanks, Christy.

Posted by: David Barzelay at December 24, 2005 1:46 AM


Not to burst your blasphemous bubble, but "Oh my God" isn't really against the Ten Commandments - the Third is generally thought to mean "don't swear in God's name to something you can't keep."

I like using "Jesus Archibald" myself. But oh, my cock is funny.

Posted by: Jeff at December 26, 2005 5:16 AM


For someone who doesn't believe in God David certainly puts alot of thought into it.

Reading this post paints the picture of someone who seems more bitter at God, as opposed to one who denies His existence.

"because practicing blasphemy is an acknowledgement of the belief that God exists, and I'm not sure that belief deserves acknowledgement."

I don't want to be insultive, but you seem quite confused/lost. With all of the passion you put behind your post to begin with you're already giving it some acknowledgement (more acknowledgement than what you might think is relayed in the quote). Once again, the sentence I quoted seems to be from one who is more bitter than anything else.

For something that seems to have such a profound effect on peoples' lives I really think you should give it more consideration. You sound alot like Guenther Lewy prior to writing "Why America Needs Religion: Secular Modernity and Its Discontents". Guenter, himself an agnostic (not as bold in his decision making as David), had a similar mindset to that of what David seems to be propagating. He intended on writing a book entitled "Why America Doesn't Need Religion".... but upon actually looking at the impact of religion on societies and cultures, as opposed to repeating some of the monotonous anti-religious rhetoric, he saw that the impact of religion was too notable to hand-wave away. In the noble tradition of maintaining intellectual integrity Guenter Lewy wrote a book that actually captured the role of religion in culture and society, that book is entitled "Why America Needs Religion".

Well, I've blabbed enough. But, do consider looking into it alittle more closely. Let's just say that what if God did exist, I would assume that what your proclaiming might bear some consequence (to what extent.... I have no idea). However, I don't think requesting immunity because of ignorance would do much good. All the information is at your disposal.... such broad claims are hopefully supported with some bit of information.

Posted by: p.falk at March 18, 2006 2:48 PM

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