Is it wrong to write "god" instead of "God"?

No, but i always capitalize it, to show respect.

I wrote “god” in a previous answer…in referring to a human being as a “god”. A human being (for me, anyway) cannot be “God” with a capital “G”. When we talk about Olympus…we refer to the “gods” of Mount Olympus. I write “god” to differentiate from the One Supreme Diety….God-of-All.

That’s why I use small “g”. If I were talking about God as in the Father-Mother God…then it would be capitalized. (This is my own way of expression…may not be for everybody.)

All proper names are capitalized.

Some people always get offended about the silliest things. No, it’t not wrong, it’s just personal choice and the religious fanatics (possibly?) are trying to force their choices on you. Whoever has anything to say about your use of or lack of capital letters need to think about how your choice is affecting them (ie it doesn’t), and they should mind their own business.

Some people who don’t believe in God like to take jabs at monotheist religions by writing “god.” Very amusing
Is it wrong? That depends on what you believe.

@Facade well said.

If I am referring to “a god” then I don’t capitalize it, because for me there is only one “The God” who is worthy of capitalization.

“I knew a girl once who had a lot of different gods.”
“I believe in God.”

It’s write to right it how you want…...hold on, somethings not rite here ;¬}

@Doctor_D you don’t upset me my friend. That is why lots of people died to protect our freedoms. Freedom of expression, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, etc…hurray for that.

It is conventional to refer to the Abrahamic god, as God. Being unconventional is always sort of fun, but it also means that you attract attention to yourself, and not always positive attention, so be unconventional, but also be prepared.

If you are using it as a proper name it is God, otherwise it is not capitalized

i.e.
God the heavenly father
The gods of Olympus

I like this question, as I write it both ways in reference to the Christian god (oops, there it is) depending on my mood, the context of how I’m using it, and my audience. Generally I don’t capitalize it because I feel it gives greater significance to what I believe is a great illusion. Sometimes I will if I’m having a rational, intelligent discussion with someone on the subject who is a believer and I don’t wish to distract them by appearing unnecessarily disrespectful. In most cases, I think it is an unconscious decision.

It depends which way you were using it. If you’re referring to the actual God, then yes, capitalize it. However, if it’s one of the mythical gods or any other type, you keep it lowercase.
If you are referring to the actual God, then I personally think it’s wrong, but it’s different for every person. (This also happens to be a pet peeve of mine.)

No, it should not be required, but some people may require it depending on where you are.

Not to me.

hmm i think im gonna start spelling it “GOD”

When the word “god” is lower-case, it refers to any deity or god. “God” with a capital “G” is the name of a particular god/deity.

So it depends on what you’re referring to.

As someone above said, it’s a personal choice, as is everything in writing. But if one respects the rules of grammar, the God (as opposed to a god) should properly be capitalized.

The Jewish tradition is that His name is so sacred that it cannot be rendered explicitly in written language. We were taught to write G-d using a hyphen. In Hebrew the abbreviation for God is not pronounced literally.

Logically—as others have pointed out—monotheists should capitalize the name.

Personally I think quotations marks should always be used, as a reminder that it’s all imaginary and delusional. And the clergy should have to wear big red noses and oversize shoes…

This has nothing to do with “right and wrong” and nothing to do with religious respect of God.

It’s just proper English grammar. If you are referring to “the” God, then it’s capitalized. Because in a sense the word “God” is its name, along with other alternatives such as Jehova, Allah, Yahweh, etc.

If you are referring to “a” god, then it’s not capitalized.

After reading everyone’s responses, I’ve decided the best thing to do from now on is capitalize God regardless of my beliefs. Thanks Fluther! Fluth on!

No, because their are too totally different meanings

I don’t capitalize if I am talking about Thor, Shiva, Vishnu, Saturn, Zeus, or the Flying Spagetti Monster.
I do capitalize if I am talking about the Judeo-Christian God. He is the one I believe in.

Sometime to preserve the peace you give the people what they want…

use wisdom if it is merely to avoid needless trivial pursuits.

I am sure God neither god cares one way or the other.

I habitually don’t capitalise it, as a matter of protest. Call me childish if you want, I might even deserve it.
But most things I ever say about god are already taking him way more seriously than any non-Christian should have to.

P.S. “God” is not the proper name of the Judeo-Christian main deity. His name is “Jehovah” or “Yahweh”.
P.P.S. This has nothing to do with grammar. It’s a writing convention.

@filmfann The Flying Spaghetti Monster takes offense to your comment.

I am atheist but I capitalize the g in God out of respect for other people’s beliefs. It is a reference to a single deity. It doesn’t matter if I believe in him or not.

I also capitalize Satan, Flying Spaghetti Monster, etc. because I am offended when people do not capitalize my name.

@Luffle I dare not offend his Noodleyness.

You write “God” if you’re using the word as a proper noun, like you would Zeus or Thor. Otherwise you write “god”. For example, you could write the following short sentence, and it would be a correct use of both words:

God is a god.

If you are referring to the God of Abraham, it is capitalized as are all proper nouns.

“God” is a specific term for the Judeo-Christian god, while “god” is the generalised descriptive term for all deities.

Of course it’s not wrong to write “god”. One of the most annoying things you can ask of a theist is that they actually define “GOD”. With all the “gods” out there and all. Surely, their belief in the “God” or a “God” is not something that automatically deserves respect. For my part, I say respect a person’s right to believe in whatever they want – but it is not incumbent on you to respect the belief itself.

Depends on if you’re using it as a proper noun or not.

Doing a quick Google search on the exact phrase “God or gods”—and mindful that even the advanced search options say nothing about matching case—seems to turn about about equal numbers of instances of God or gods versus god or gods, with God or Gods also making a strong showing. Which only confirms that web documents are generally clueless about rules of capitalization.

It’s clear that God is capitalized when invoked as the name of a particular deity, while god is not capitalized when referring to a deity in general.

@Doctor_D, your teacher was correct in instructing you to capitalize God, but wrong to accord the word special status among other proper nouns out of respect for a “higher being”.

A much dodgier issue is whether pronouns referring to God are capitalized. “God’s in (his / His) Heaven.” Here I think there’s much more room for dissent among non-believers who would not cede special respect to this particular proper noun as the referent, unless context unambiguously requires it, such as quoting the Bible. My earlier use of “His” was an attempt at irony.

God is my Heavenly Father. He gave me life. That is why I capitalize His name!

you can write whatever you want… If God exists then he/she gave you free will…god god god god…at least the most of the constitution’s from democratic countries gave you free speech as a right.

Personally I prefer to write gods’ names out as their proper name.

For example, the Jewish and Christian god’s name is Yahweh. The Muslim god’s name is Allah. The ancient Babylonian storm god’s name is Marduk.

I do capitalize “God” every now and then, but only when I’m talking about the vague, generalized concept. And I dislike defining that term so loosely that it includes beings as various as Yahweh, Marduk, Allah, the Deist’s clockmaker god, and “The Force” from Star Wars. I prefer to talk about specific deities.

Capitalize when referring to a specific deity named God. Do not capitalize when referring to nonspecific deities, such as the ancient Greek gods.

I capitalize “God” when referring specifically to the Christian God because I see it as a proper noun/name. I do the same when referring to, for example, Allah, Ganesha, Krishna, etc… If my use of the word god(s) refers only to a general meaning or concept, I do not capitalize. My spiritual beliefs (or lack of spiritual beliefs) are not connected to my beliefs around correct grammar :)

@soozaloozakpow What if you’re referring to the god of the Jews of the Old Testament? What about the god of deists who reject religious doctrine and do not label themselves Christians an anything else, yet believe in god? Should the rules of capitalization depend on the writer’s religious identity?

Capitalization rules are known by most people. @DominicX gave a good answer. My answer was based on why I capitalize God. a personal thing!

@gasman

Perfectly logical Q. The answer, of course, is NO.

The rules of grammar are what they have always been, so they don’t change simply because of one’s religious belief (or lack thereof)

Both BoBo and Dominic, as well as others, have pointed this out.

Does anyone have the right to not respect ANY particular rule of grammar with which they disagree for ANY reason?

Of course they have that right. As long as they’re willing to accept the consequences of that decision.

If they are answerable to a teacher or a boss, that person has the right to dock them for it as well. But, speaking practically, most people are not in that situation.

People regularly flout grammar and spelling rules all over the place constantly so this isn’t much different. Most people reading your writing will most likely assume that you don’t know any better or too lazy to check it out.

The “protest” aspect of it likely sails clear over the heads of most people reading :) Sorry to burst your bubble here.

@Doctor D
What’s unfortunate for this Q is that the original teacher spoken about taught the correct grammatical rule but added a personal reason for it.

She should have just told you that the reason for capitalizing the word God is that doing so follows standard grammar rules and left it at that.

But she chose to editorialize with her personal opinion and ended up muddying the waters.

Whether or not to follow correct and accepted usage of language and spelling is certainly every person’s individual choice. The context in which that choice is made determines the consequences which can range from:

1) Nothing at all.
2) A negative opinion of your intelligence or thoroughness or attention to detail.
3). A lower grade on an educational paper
4). Being fired from a job requiring writing ability. Unlikely but repeatedly done could happen.

Everybody has the right to choose accordingly. One singer took this to its logical (or illogical) extreme. For years Prince insisted upon using an unpronouncable symbol in place of his name. His reason for doing so was a protest of a record company’s wrong treatment of him.

Did most people understand that protest? Not really. Most just regarded him as eccentric in the extreme and regarded him with reactions ranging from amusement to annoyance or to outright scorn or ridicule.

Was his protest recognized? Judge for yourself. Did he have the right to do it? Unquestionably yes. Was it effective? Meh.

:D

@ gasman I am not too knowledgable on who’s who in the Old Testament, but the title or name of any specific god should be capitalized. A person’s religious beliefs have no bearing on this. I do not believe there is a Santa Claus, yet it is still correct to capitalize the name. Recognizing a title or proper name associated with a specific person or being does not speak to someone’s beliefs.

If I am referring specifically to the Judaeo-Christian God then I would capitalise it, because that’s his most common name. If I am referring to a different god, or to the concept of god in general, then I don’t.

@soozaloozakpow Then we are in agreement. I wanted to clarify your statement that “I capitalize ‘God’ when referring specifically to the Christian God…”, mistakenly inferring that you meant “only”. My bad. I’ve been overly argumentative lately.

@gasman If I thought someone felt only the Christian God was worthy of capitalization, I would go into argument mode too!!!

@soozaloozakpow I think the names of all gods are worthy of capitalisation but I would capitalise their actual names; eg Thor, Zeus etc. Those gods are not named God.

@downtide I think we are on the same page. The name or title, or even concept may vary amongst faiths, but all should be capitalized. I’m not sure I understand what you mean by “names of all gods being worthy of capitalization”. This may not be what you were implying, but I don’t see merit as a relevant factor. The title or word used to denote a particular person, place, or thing is a proper noun. Proper nouns should be capitalized

We capitalize “Frank” and “George” right?

It depends on the usage.

If one says, “I (don’t) believe that there is a god”, then the lower case “g” is correct.

If one says, “I believe in God”, then the upper case “G” is correct because “God” is being used as a name.

@Aster Exactly!

No. It’s wrong to get upset about it.

No. It’s not wrong to acknowledge your beliefs by writing “god” or “God” and it’s not a jab at anyone to write “god” or “God”. It is only an annoyance to be told you have to write it one way or the other on the premise that your belief system is wrong according to another human being.