Brandon Kennedy
New member
- Joined
- Jun 5, 2012
- Member Type
- Other
- Native Language
- American English
- Home Country
- United States
- Current Location
- United States
Greetings I am involved in an online discussion forum about faith and atheism. This thread is NOT about religion just the proper use of grammar when discussing religion. We have been discussing proper grammar when referring to God or god as the case may be.
It was my understanding that you capitalize god when you are referring to a monotheistic deity such as the god of Abraham but you do not capitalize god when referring to polytheistic deities such as Zeus or Krishna since they are gods (plural) and not God (singular). Is this interpretation correct? Can a learned professor please tell me why one capitalizes god when referring to a monotheistic deity? Is it out of respect or is it simply because God is a proper noun when it refers to a monotheistic deity? Does one still call the deity God (capitalized) even if he has another name like Yahweh, Jehova, or Allah? Would it be grammatically correct to say that the capitalization of God is correct even when God is used in the same sentence as this name, for example: "Allah is the one true God."
Thanks in advance.
It was my understanding that you capitalize god when you are referring to a monotheistic deity such as the god of Abraham but you do not capitalize god when referring to polytheistic deities such as Zeus or Krishna since they are gods (plural) and not God (singular). Is this interpretation correct? Can a learned professor please tell me why one capitalizes god when referring to a monotheistic deity? Is it out of respect or is it simply because God is a proper noun when it refers to a monotheistic deity? Does one still call the deity God (capitalized) even if he has another name like Yahweh, Jehova, or Allah? Would it be grammatically correct to say that the capitalization of God is correct even when God is used in the same sentence as this name, for example: "Allah is the one true God."
Thanks in advance.