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09/04/2003 Archived Entry: "About "G-d"" I generally prefer to write "G-d" rather than "God", but not because I think that there is any halachic reason to write G-d rather than God. I haven't encountered any compelling arguments that writing "God" on a blog is halachicly prohibited. For that matter, I don't think that would be a sufficient reason in itself. People are capable of discovering moral truths; we don't have to wait for divine revelation or try to derive moral knowledge from past divine revelations. Because morality is true, it is knowable. But there is a reason unrelated to halacha that it can make sense to write "G-d" rather than "God": Jews do it, and Christians don't. As writing the word that way is Jewish, doing so makes it a bit clearer that I am talking about G-d rather than "Jesus and his father".
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Replies: 20 comments
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I think the main effect of writing G_d would be to give the impression that the writer is Jewish. It seems that an atheist would not really be writing about "God" at all, as they would not find any meaning in the concept, whereas a religious person would be very likely to reveal which religious tradition they align with, by accident or design. Posted by Alice Bachini @ 09/09/2003 04:08 PM EST Alice wrote:
I think the main effect of writing G_d would be to give the impression that the writer is Jewish. Well... :-)
It seems that an atheist would not really be writing about "God" at all, as they would not find any meaning in the concept, whereas a religious person would be very likely to reveal which religious tradition they align with, by accident or design. There is a song that is described by its creator as "a song about God written by an athiest".
Here's a verse from this song: We should cherish each of us What concept, other than G-d, could he use to write this song? Posted by Woty @ 09/09/2003 06:37 PM EST Atheists who are most vociferous about the meaninglessness of the concept of God, often exhibit a similar degree of scepticism towards the concepts of good and evil. Richard Dawkins summarised this point of view with his admirable directness:
The universe that we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil and no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference. The mindset exhibited by Dawkins has succeeded to a considerable degree in making the belief in objective moral values seem intellectually illegitimate. Thus, ironically, the very people who take most pride in rejecting the irrationality of religion, by striving to throw out the baby of moral realism with the bathwater of supernaturalism, have been leading our culture into a hopeless tangle when it comes to reasoning about morality. Herein lies the greatest danger facing western civilisation. Posted by Kolya @ 09/09/2003 06:40 PM EST "But there is a reason unrelated to halacha that it can make sense to write 'G-d' rather than 'God': Jews do it, and Christians don't. As writing the word that way is Jewish, doing so makes it a bit clearer that I am talking about G-d rather than 'Jesus and his father'. " Why do you want to make that clearer, Woty? You're trying to convey your belief in God, but not Jesus? That you think Judaism has more truth than Christianity? I can't think of an instance where the distinction matters otherwise. Posted by Stephen @ 09/17/2003 11:23 AM EST
Why do you want to make that clearer, Woty? Because it matters. There are things it is currently difficult to discuss without reference to G-d. The idea of a human god who died for our sins makes those things more difficult to discuss.
You're trying to convey your belief in God, but not Jesus? Yes. Does that seem unreasonable to you?
That you think Judaism has more truth than Christianity? This is another reason why. Posted by Woty @ 09/25/2003 06:44 PM EST "You're trying to convey your belief in God, but not Jesus? " "Yes. Does that seem unreasonable to you?" Yes, not because I think one has much more truth than the other, but because I think they are both false. Jesus was not God because there is no God. "That you think Judaism has more truth than Christianity?" "This is another reason why."
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