We hear them and use them every day, often without
notice. They creep into our language and writings.
What am I talking about? Those common religious
phrases.
They come in many forms. From cursing, such as
“God Damn”, “Good Lord”, “Oh my God” to
exclamations such as “It’s a miracle” and “Heaven
only knows”. When someone sneezes it’s hard not to
say “bless you”.
I’ve seen various people try different phrases in place
of the religious-based ones. They say “gosh darn it”
or “oh my gosh” instead. For me, these phrases don’t
convey my true feelings. It makes me feel like I’m in
an episode of Leave It To Beaver. “Golly gee
willikers Mrs. Cleaver.” It just sounds really lame.
“Good Lord” can be replaced by any number of
things. “Good grief” or “Good gravy” are just a
couple. But “good grief” strikes me as being a bit of
an oxymoron and “good gravy” should be reserved
for the dinner table.
I know many Freethinkers encourage us to change
our phrases into a more secular form. They say that
the use of such phrases only encourages the religious
folks into thinking we also believe in such nonsense. I
don’t necessarily disagree with their conclusion, but
I’d like to offer another perspective.
I have tried for a few years to “eliminate” these
common phrases from my everyday language, but
find it most difficult. Then I got to thinking about the
whole issue and wondered what might happen if I
didn’t. If we use these phrases as if they WERE
common, then perhaps they would eventually become
meaningless?
I compare it to celebrations such as traditionally
religious events as Easter and Christmas. I know
many Secularists avoid these types of holidays, but I
celebrate them happily. I celebrate the secular aspects
of these holidays: decorating the tree, exchanging
gifts, coloring eggs, giving chocolate bunnies. I
would also encourage others to do the same. Why?
Because the more we can make these things
“common”, the more we can secularize these holidays
and the more we can take the religious aspects out of
them.
The same thing can perhaps be done with religious
phrases. If we use them as the common phrases they
are, then that’s all they will become — common.
When you hear something over and over again it
begins to lose it’s power and that’s what I’d like to
see happen to religion — I would like to see it lose it’s
hypnotic power over people. Besides, I’m probably
going to habitually say them anyway, and I’d like to
not think of myself as a hypocrite for doing so.
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Angela C. Byers
Copyright © 1996 - 2003 Angela C. Byers