Taking God's name lightly and swearing are two different things. The word "damn" isn't taking God's name lightly.
And I don't think that ANYONE swearing makes them "not much of an authority figure or role model". I think it's ridiculously illogical to say that any words are negative or reflect poorly on the person. I can say "Damn, I love my life. Damn, I love the world. Damn, I love God and all of his people." Does saying that make you a bad person or role model?
Once you stop putting importance on certain words, you make them powerless. For example, if I wanted to I could replace the word *beep* with "cheese". "Man, I'm cheesing pissed off." Now, it seems fine and harmless, but is that not using a different word to say the same exact thing? So musn't we then deem "cheese" a swear word?
The whole idea of curse words are ludicrous, and show that the person making such an issue about it is ignorant and irrational. No offense.
Words don't reflect negatively on God, or anyone. It's actions that matter. If I think about stealing something, but don't steal it, is that still a sin? If I SAY "I'm going to steal that", but don't, should I still be sentenced for theft? The point is, when you place certain importance on random words, you have to look at the big picture.
"Is this a joke? Because if it is, it's both funny and well-executed."
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fastasyoucan
19 years ago
I agree to an extent... my view is, of course priests swear, because they're human. The fact that they do doesn't make them less valuable as role models; however, I doubt any priest would swear regularly without checking themselves. I think they still try to be respectful and set a positive example. I don't know of too many priests who make a point of swearing to remove the power from the words. I doubt many would really swear to their congregations. But, we all have our moments.
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Iechium
19 years ago
Well, the church places importance on swearing because it's viewed as unclean language. I can understand that, because that's how it's portrayed to the public. However, if a priest is in a crisis and he curses, I would strongly disagree that it means he is a bad example.
If we would remove the importance of the words themselves, and cease empowering them as shocking or special, we would end the necessity to have them. It's like the old saying "if you want to make something popular, ban it." By making a big deal out of swear words, we're making them somewhat fetishized.
"Is this a joke? Because if it is, it's both funny and well-executed."
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