Yeah, and I get the distinct impression from reading Christ’s teachings that he’d have been far more upset with people starting fights in his name than with people using it in vain.
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It doesn’t matter what the Bible teaches, it matters how the speech is interpretted by the person who receives it. Religious or not, a lot of people consider, “Jesus Christ,” an aggressive utterance and will respond to it as such. I think you are relying too much on the idea that saying, “Jesus Christ,” would exclusively offend Christians and not that the expression has an accepted cultural currency of being more aggressive than a normal utterance.
The typical rule of thumb for judging if a word or phrase is taboo is to ask, “is there a softened word or phrase that is considered more polite that word or phrase or will adults downgrade to the phrase when called out on using it?” If the answer is ‘yes,’ (Jeepers creepers, cheese and crackers, etc.), the word or phrase is taboo.
What you choose to do with this information is your choice. I would suggest that in many parts of the world that shouting Jesus Christ has a weight to it that is acknowledged as being taboo beyond the religious implications. Handwaving the religious context away like “it is just sensitive Christians” or “they should read their own book” or whatever is ignoring that “Jesus Christ” is an acknowledged taboo phrase in many parts of the US.
As one of the formerly indoctrinated, I would emphatically agree.
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Jesus Christ, you’re being ridiculous
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I’m not arguing what should be. This is as silly as when people argue literal dictionary definitions of taboo words as an argument for not being shamed for saying racist or homophobic words. It doesn’t matter what the Bible or the dictionary says, it matters how people react to the utterance when the utterance is deployed.
I don’t believe I am.
But ya are, though:
12 comments thus far, mostly about what “should have been” and what is offensive to whom, not the actual topic at hand.
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That’s actually offensive with some religions—saying “God” outside of praying can be considered blasphemy. So who then decides?
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Straight, White, cis-het males who claim to be Xtian, of course!
Who else even matters?
/s
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The person you are interacting with decides, so be careful.
My assertion is that it is best to avoid saying things that would offend other people regardless of whether the target is taught to turn the other cheek and that certain religious exclamations have a cultural currency beyond just their religious origins to where it would be unwise to say, (“Jesus Christ” or “God-damned” for example).
It is easy to shrug off the feelings of other people by saying that their sacred cows aren’t our own. But, again, this is about informing a child that it isn’t wise to develop a habit of saying, “Jesus Christ,” like it isn’t wise to develop the habit of saying the f-word. Sure, freedom of speech. Separation of church and state, whatever. These freedoms don’t protect you from insulting your peers or upsetting strangers.
When I read the article, I saw a teacher who overreacted and a school board who agreed that the teacher overreacted. I don’t have any issue with a teacher telling a student that they shouldn’t use language that could hurt or offend other people and furthermore I think it is important than teachers not be limited in this advice especially when the information is appropriate.
As an atheist/agnostic, I don’t follow the Bible, but when someone uses “Jesus Christ” in polite conversation, I consider the conversation to have slipped into somewhat impolite territory. It isn’t as bad as garden variety profanity, racial slurs, ethnic slurs, xenophobic talk, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, etc. but it is crosses the borderline between appropriate and inappropriate speech. Depending on context, can season a difference between a civil and hostile conversation.
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They really crucified that kid
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They only do it to try to be shocking and stoke controversy. 
I feel like we have profanity specifically because we’re not supposed to say it, which is what gives it the power it has as language artifacts.
It’s interesting to think about just why it’s inappropriate for a child to say something. “FUCK!”? Well, fuck has origins in sex, and kids shouldn’t be doing that until some point of maturity. What about, “SHIT!”? Everyone at all ages shits. If you DON’T shit, you die. How come a kid can’t say “shit”? What is actually inappropriate about that?
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Actually, and fully off topic, the study of profanity is kinda fascinating. There are folks with severe brain injuries who cannot speak, but can still cuss a blue streak. Folks who have Tourettes with a foul language tic will sometimes have that evolve over time. Young kids will tic with “poopy” or “dooty” or whatever their parents reference shit with, and evolve as their idea of “bad words” does. Comes from a different area of the brain. There is a reason that, when you crack your head, you usually don’t spout Longfellow or Keats. The idea of a reflexive, unthinking but verbal (in a way) part of our consciousness is weirdly fascinating, to a nerd like me, at least.
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Of course those that only read the headlines from the grievance machine are mostly assuming that this is just another example of those secularists “Taking Jesus out of the schools,” rather than an attempt to protect the feelings of those that are religious. I predict that the teacher in question will be getting death-threats on behalf of the King of Peace soon.
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It took me a second before I realized what the second clip was getting at.
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On a point of order, this utterance is not in contravention of the second (Old Testament) commandment. That is (or so I’m told) an injunction against using God’s name for nefarious purposes, such as self aggrandizement and personal gain. You know, like a whole bunch of “Prosperity Gospel” preachers, and those guys on the radio who tell you send them a cheque.
On a related note, can the second Old Testament commandment refer to Jesus Christ? I mean, He wasn’t even mentioned in the Old Testament, and He did supply a single commandment that is supposed to supercede the old ones…
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That’s detention for a week, @jerwin !
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