Cutesy internet speak

[Seshat]

Moses brought the Ten Commandments down from Mt Sinai. And he wasn't Christian. The Commandments were given to the Jews. All the People of the Book (Jews, Christians, Muslims) have the Ten Commandments. Including the first.

As for the word 'god' itself: it actually refers to any deity, not just the God-the-Father of the Triune God of the Christians. It's an accident of history that in the English language, the word for any deity is also the word used to refer specifically to the Christian Triune God.

The word 'allah' is the Arabic word for God, and is used as the name of God for Arabic-speaking Jews and Christians, as well as Muslims. It comes from root words such as the Canaanite El, and the Mesopotamian Ilu. It is not much used in English because we have enough perfectly good words for the concept already.

[ThePhoneGoddess]

Okay, Jayel, what you're missing is that for non-Christian people in Western society, saying "Goddammit" or "Oh my God" is no different than saying "Oh crap" or "my word". Most non-Christian people do not know that it is considered some kind of curse on God. As the descendants of a culture that was at one time nearly entirely Christian, these phrases are totally embedded in our culture. Our parents used them, our grandparents used them, we hear them in movies, on the street, we even hear them in school. For people who grew up hearing them and using them but having no meaning attached to these phrases, when they adopt a religion (such as Neo-Paganism), they often like to tailor various aspects of their lives to their new religion, and that includes commonly used phrases like "Oh My Gods".

Basically, what I am saying is that in modern times, to Non-Christians, the meaning of these phrases has changed. They have no personal religious association with these phrases, only cultural ones. In cultural terms these phrases are extremely mild interjections. It seems perfectly normal and kind of neat to 'personalize' them. I believe that very few people are actually trying to offend you or make fun of Christianity.

Also, just so you know, it was very common among many ancient cultures to say things like "Great Zeus!" or "By Odin's beard!". These were also considered mild curses.

[CancelMyService]

Interesting trivia: Muslims consider Jesus a prophet and use the "pbuh" modifier to his name as well. The more you read up, the more you realize the "Big Three" religions are far more alike than any of their fundimentalists would be comfortable with.

[Seshat]

Naturally. They're all Judaism at the core.

There's the main line (Judaism, divided into Orthodox and Reform, IIRC). To the Jews, both Jesus and Mohammad are simply prophets.

There's those who followed the prophet/messiah Jesus Christ (Christianity, divided into a thousand or so variations). The Christians believe Jesus was the promised Messiah, and for the most part, ignore Mohammad entirely.

There's those who followed the prophet Mohammad (Islam, divided into Shiite and Sunni). To the Muslims, Jesus is simply a prophet, and the Jews have lost the way. Mohammad was the 'seal of the prophets': God's final prophet.

All three religions have a common set of Scriptures: the Jews have the Torah and the Talmud. The Christians have a subset of the Torah and the Talmud, with translations of varying accuracy, called the Old Testament.

Islam's Qur'an includes versions of the Torah and the Psalms, and a version of the Gospels of the New Testament, and Islamic scholars are required to have familiarity with the Talmud as well, and with other parts of the Christian New Testament.

[Lace Neil Singer]

I use "cheese" instead of god; ie, "for the love of cheese" cuz I don't really want to be offensive. I also really like cheese. XD In no way is it meant to be sarky.