IN THEORY:

The expression “Oh, my God” appears to be proliferating in American society, offending some as an expression that takes God’s name in vain. The search engine Yahoo! even calls its gossip page “OMG,” a short-hand text-messaging way to say “Oh, my God.” The move sparked fierce debate on the company’s website. Do you think this is just another sign of an erosion of people’s respect for the Almighty or is this largely a trivial matter?

Honestly, in my opinion, the use of the phrase “OMG” is probably the least pressing problem with our society.

We would respect God a whole lot more by respecting God’s creation: caring for the environment, seriously considering our addiction to consumerism and how it contributes to global problems, working toward the end of poverty and hunger, healing the wounds of our society, and promoting peace over violence and war.

That said, I do believe that words have power, and when we verbally spew words that do not mean what we intend them to mean, then we take the power out of the words themselves.

I think we need to be more intentional about what we say, whether it’s a comment like “Oh, my God!” that really has nothing to do with God, or whether it’s comments like, “That’s so gay” that likewise has nothing to do with gay people and is more a comment on how stupid something is rather than its sexual orientation.

We’re not really addressing God when we say “OMG,” and we’re not really commenting about gay people or an object’s state of happiness when we call something gay.

We say a lot of thoughtless things without even considering their impact.

I’m way more offended by “That’s so gay” than “Oh, my God,” but either phrase should call our attention to the fact that our words do hold power and we need to use them intentionally.

Rev. Sarah Halverson

Fairview Community Church

Costa Mesa

“Oh, my God” is usually exclaimed upon hearing unsettling news or witnessing an astonishing event. It escapes reflexively as a cry of horror, outrage, alarm or wonder.

The reference to the Divine underscores the exceptional nature of the matter heard or the experience undergone. It may be appropriate, or at least understandable, to link God with a moment of shock and awe.

The greater trivialization of God’s Name occurs when even strangers intone “God bless you” upon hearing you sneeze. Since we no longer believe the souls threaten to exit the body through the nostrils when we are victim of an involuntary spasmodic action, “God bless you” seems an unwarranted invocation.

Should God be associated with irritation of the mucosa and the release of thousands of infectious aerosol droplets and bioparticles?

Better to say “Cover your mouth, and use a tissue!”

Rabbi Mark S. Miller

Temple Bat Yahm

Newport Beach

Both profanity (irreverence toward God) and obscenity (cussing) are signs of laziness. In an increasingly lazy culture, it is no surprise that our language has become as lazy as the rest of our activities.

When people are lazy, they don’t take time to be creative and resort to the easiest options. Historically this was associated with the uneducated.

Now, unfortunately, it rings through all levels of “educated” society as well, no longer a sign of the lack of education, it is a sign of lack of creativity and may I say, a lack of respect for others.

The fact that God’s name is included in this is unfortunate, but in a culture where a frightening minority of people allow their beliefs to influence the actions of their daily lives, this should not be shocking.

It is this very laziness that has made America the target of terrorism in places of the world that are still very intentional about how they approach the divine.

Ric Olsen

Lead Pastor, The Beacon