Exactly.

I don't really believe in 'God' (well I'm on the fence, how can anyone know?) however if I am talking about the God that monotheists believe in I can stomach capitalising it because I can distinguish between talking about something "in theory" and "as though it's real". I.e I know that talking about God with a capital G does not necessarily mean that I believe in Him.

Also, refusing to capitalise it would probably be offensive to some people, and really, what's the point?

who cares?

Yeah, and when you read a book the characters names are capitalized, and you obviously know they are not real. Its proper grammer, so quit trying to be a smart ass, becuase you're wrong.

Wheres the 'Neowinians read too much into things' option?

I say God, because that is the right spelling, I don't do it because I believe or don't believe.

capitalizing God has nothing to do with whether you believe in him/her/it, and everything to do with the fact that God is a 'being', and names are capitalized.

Huckelberry Finn is capitalized, but do any of you believe he exists? No. It's irrelevant.

god = regular noun referring to any deity
God = proper noun referring to the Christian god

Null vote

God, god - I would usually use "God", unless it isn't refering to the one of the monotheistic religions, or if i'm lazy.

+1

It's a proper noun, so surely it's capitalised. This isn't down to beliefs but grammar surely?

"God" is just a word that means all powerful basically not a name its capitalised if at begining of sentence

I bet I've only written out the word God/god a handful of times in my life . . . beats me if I capitalize it or not.
Humm . . I'm going to go with . . GOD . . . all capitals, looks a little for powerful and believable that way

It's just a grammar rule. Now what's really questionable is when religious texts have this format:

God sat down at the Table to Eat his Sandwich. The Balony was dry Today.

God is in reference to a particular god, god is just a word used to describe a divine deity

Sometimes, it's not really a big deal to me in all honesty.



Spot on.

god

I usually just capitalize "God" for the sake of satisfying everybody.

Agreed.

I'm a Christian, so I capitalize the word when referring to my God (as it is a proper noun), but if I am referring to the general concept of a supreme being, or when referring to the supreme beings of polytheistic religions, I do not (such as saying "the gods of the Egyptians and Romans", etc.), as they have their own names. Now, if I were to refer to one of those other gods by their name, I'd capitalize that name (such as "Ra", "Thoth", "Zeus", etc.).

there is no christian god...all gods are the same (christian, jewish,muslim)

anyway i never capitalize the word god.

now things like Ra, Budha, Jupiter etc. is different

The way I understand it, Muslims believe that Allah is the same as the God of Christians and Jehovah of the Jews (whose name is never supposed to be completely written out in their beliefs, only "Jhvh"). Many names, but all the same being called God.

Its a grammatical issue. Whether you believe in God or not, you need to capitalize it if you are reffering to God (as opposed to a god, like a mythical god of war). The fact that you are an atheist is absolutely irrelevant: you probably agree that Harry Potter is a fictional character, but you capitalize his name, right? It in no way implies that you believe in God's existance to capitalize his name, it just serves to differentiate between God the entity and god the noun.

Indeed you are correct. God is a proper noun, which means it has to be capitalized because it's referring to a name. It doesn't matter whether or not you believe in "God", it's proper English grammar.

On the other hand, there are exceptions to this rule if you are using Gods in a plural tense. If you are just saying Gods in a sentence without mentioning specific names (ex: By the Gods!), you should capitalize it because you are using it as a proper noun (specific names aren't mentioned so you are sort of 'wrapping' up all Gods in one word). However, if you are mentioning the names in a list after saying 'gods', it doesn't have to be capitalized (ex: The gods of Roman time were Jupiter, Juno, Mars, etc).

Edit: There are so many rules in the English language.

Tell me about it English isn't my first language, but I strive to write as correctly as possible so I'm not misunderstood. If you think English has a lot of rules, though, try Spanish hehe. The amount of rules and exceptions are absolutely ridiculous. I handle them because it is my first language and I am well read, but I imagine it must be extremely difficult for foreigners to grasp some of it's finer details. In fact, I'd be willing to say I like English better than Spanish since it manages to create better balance between simplicity and eloquence. To write something in Spanish and make it sound fancy, it's not just using the proper words..you have to employ some phrase structures that are so absurdly difficult to come up with it's not even funny

god.

God.

God when refering to the Christain concept, and god for just the general concept.

God, just like any other god.

There are no caps in "ludicrous imaginary being"

you cant be both. if your wavering then your agnostic.


it infers that it is the name of something, that something could well be the 'idea' of God being a 'being'.


no, those letters have meanings attached, just as god does.
if you said n***** you'd be insulting someone, if you said God with a capital you'd just be saying you believe that god is a being that has the capacity for a name.

I personally am agnostic and I do capitalize God becuase it is a name.

It depends on the context in which I use the word... Referring to an Abrahamic god, I do it to indicate that it is an Abrahamic god (e.g. Yahweh, God, Allah, ...) In general, no; I've never seen anyone write it as, say, "Zeus was a Greek God" (I don't know if he was or wasn't ).

God.

Good question.
Yes, I do capitalize it; but that's because my English teachers always me so. Plus, there's a religious factor as well.


Because.
He said it's a grammar rule...how's he supposed to explain to you why.
It's the same as capitalizing the first letter in the names of countries and names...and religions and prophets, etc...

It's the 21st century and people still think God will smite them down if they don't capitalize his name

I try not to, but every so often it sneaks through

I don't believe in Santa Claus but I capitalize his name therefore...

(Not that I do or don't believe in a god, but when referring to a being by name even if imaginary it should be capitalized.)