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Nornagest comments on Do I really not believe in God? Do you? - Less Wrong Discussion

11 Post author: shminux 10 December 2012 07:02AM

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Comment author: Nornagest 12 December 2012 03:59:18AM 1 point [-]

I say "Jesus Christ!" when I'm startled. I say "Thank God" when I'm relieved, and "Oh, God..." when I'm hung over. I say "God damn it!" when I'm frustrated. But all of these feel like idiomatic expressions of emotion to me, not like invocations of divinity. And I'm not too worried about this; signaling atheism isn't much of a priority for me, and there's linguistic precedent for it, by Jove.

If you're seriously worried about expressing yourself this way, I might suggest implementing a God jar, with the proceeds going to the atheist nonprofit of your choice.

Comment author: shminux 12 December 2012 04:26:08AM 2 points [-]

all of these feel like idiomatic expressions of emotion to me

I was talking about a genuine feeling.

signaling atheism isn't much of a priority for me

I'm not an atheist, and I don't care much about signaling anything of the sort.

If you're seriously worried about expressing yourself this way

I'm not worried, I was curious.