From Conservapedia

While the development of conservative words grows by doubling each century, those with an anti-Christian and anti-American agenda, such as liberals, homosexuals, atheists, evolutionists and leftists, have attempted to remove the Christian origins of our language by replacing common phrases with secularized versions (See also: Religious language).

By appealing to tolerance and political correctness, they have succeeded in propagating these secularized versions, even among those who don't share their views. Such deceitful tactics are a prime example of Liberal redefinition and other Liberal tools.

Calendar Terms

Original expression Secularized version B.C./A.D. B.C.E./C.E.1 Christ's Mass Christmas [1] Christmas Xmas2 Christmas Tree Celebration Tree. [2] Holiday Tree Christmas Party Holiday Party Christmas Holiday Winter Break Easter Holiday Spring Break Gregorian calendar Civil calendar All Hallow's Eve[3] Halloween Holy Day Holiday [4] Independence Day The Fourth of July Merry Christmas Happy Holidays/Season's Greetings Pascha/Resurrection Sunday Easter Sunday3 Saint Patrick's Day Paddy's Day Saint Valentine's Day Valentine's Day Shrove Tuesday Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras, Carnival Thanksgiving Turkey Day The Lord's Day Football Sunday The Reverend Martin Luther King Day MLK Day [5] Washington's Birthday4 President's Day

Expressions and Colloquialisms

NOTE: In some cases, the secularized version is used as a "minced oath" in order to avoid using the original expression as a profanity.

Original expression Secularized version God be with you Good luck God be with you Goodbye God bless you/Bless you Gesundheit Godspeed Be good God Willing Hopefully Jesus! Gee whiz! One nation under God One nation5 Praise the Lord Praise be Thank God! Thank Goodness! Thank heavens Thank goodness Thank the Lord Give thanks Do God's work Do good Have a blessed day Have a nice/good day

General Examples

Original expression Secularized version Abomination Mistake Abortion Birth control6 Abortion Reproductive Rights Act of God Natural disaster Adultery Cheating Adultery Fooling around Angelic Pretty Religious Suppression Separation of church and state Anti-life Pro-choice Atheistic Secular Bible study Fundamentalism Blasphemy Secular opinion Blasphemy Religious "freedoms" Blessed Lucky Chosen lifestyle Innate characteristic Communist Liberal Constitutionalist Birther Contraception Protection Covetousness Inequality Creation Abiogenesis Curse Bad luck Disciple of Christ Christian Disciple of Christ Wingnut Diabolical Dishonest/Underhanded Domestic Terrorism Workplace violence Drunkard Alcoholic Easter Egg Spring Sphere [3], Chocolate Egg Eternity Forever Father Old man Fertile Breeder Flood Myth Freedom Fighter Terrorist Gender confusion Living one's truth Glory Praise God A higher power God Mother Nature God-fearing Intolerant God-given Natural Godless Secular Golden Rule Altruism Govern Rule Harlot Sex worker Harlot Prostitute Harlot Slut Harlot Empowerment Harlot Liberated woman Harlort Feminist Heathen Multicultural Hell (or Heaven) Afterlife Heavenly Beautiful Heresy Scientific theory Heresy Freedom of Opinion Heretic Crackpot Holy matrimony Civil union Homosexual Gay Homosexuality Lifestyle choice Husband or wife Significant other/life partner Judgement Day Death Immoral Personal choice Islamic Terrorism Man-caused disaster [6] Lazy Lacks motivation Living in sin Shacking up/cohabitation/domestic partnership Lust Love Mankind Humankind Meek Weak Miraculous Amazing Mother Parent Morality Social Oppression Nature Social construct Perversion Diversity Possessed Crazy Possessed Influenced Pray Plead Prayer/blessing Moment of silence Principled Extremist Prison Correctional center Pro-abortion Pro-choice Pro-murder Pro-choice Providence Lucky break Rebuke Hate speech Reckoning Accountability Religion Spirituality Religion Superstition Righteous Law-abiding Sacred Respected Sanctify Set apart[7] Saintly Well-behaved Sex before marriage Liberated Sin Crime Sin Lifestyle Choice Sodomite (generally) Gay; LGBT Sodomite (in antiquity) Male shrine prostitute Sodomy Relations Solemn Dignified Son/Daughter Offspring Soul Spirit The State The Government Terrorist Freedom fighter Unborn baby Fetus Virgin Young woman Wicked Antisocial Wicked Naughty Witchcraft Wicca, (Neo-)Pagan With child Pregnant

Names

Original expression Secularized version Christian Name Given Name, First Name, forename Mary Magdalene maudlin

Historical Examples

Starting in 1933 Nazi Germany had a program to secularize the German language. The Nazis themselves called it Sprachregelung (regulation of language). The Sprachregelung was mainly directed by the Reichsministerium für Volksaufklärung und Propaganda (RMVP) (Ministry for the enlightenment of the people and propaganda). While the RMVP concentrated mainly on controlling and censoring the language of the media and the language used in movies and other cultural ventures, there were other actions as well. The Nazi government published a new dictionary, which contained only secularized language, that was in unison with the parties ideology.

The sad culmination of the Sprachregelung was in the vocabulary for the Endlösung.

Humans became units, murder became deportation etc.[8]

George Orwell's 1984 describes how a tyrannical government changes language to entrench its power. This is done by the so-called Newspeak. Newspeak is a slimmed down version of normal English. Its goal is to prevent the speaker forming thoughts like rebellion or dislike against the government or one of its leaders. Even if an individual would be able to form such thoughts, it would be impossible to communicate them to others using Newspeak. Orwell's description of newspeak was heavily influenced by the language controls of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.

Avoiding Blasphemy

While motivations will vary from from one individual to the next there is a degree to which the secularization of language may be driven by some Christians wanting to avoid breaking the Third Commandment. In what is sometimes described as a 'minced oath'[9] a speaker, often under stress, begins to form a taboo term and then corrects himself with an acceptable term that rhymes or has a similar initial sound. Thus 'God' becomes 'gosh', 'golly' or 'goodness gracious'; 'Jesus' becomes 'gee' or 'jeepers creepers'; 'Christ' becomes 'crikey' or 'crumbs'. The taboo term may not have any religious connotations: 'shoot' and 'sugar' are used merely to avoid a vulgarity. The fact that words such as 'crikey' and 'gee' have become less prevalent in recent decades, to be replaced with the original 'Christ' or 'Jesus' may be as much down to a reduction concern about breaching the Third Commandment as it is to an increasing desire to reintroduce Christian terminology into everyday speech.

21st century, desecularization and language

See also: Desecularization

[10] Donald Trump , courting the vote of religious conservatives, said, "If I become president, we're gonna be saying Merry Christmas at every store ... You can leave happy holidays at the corner."

The 21st century is expected to be a time of the decline of atheism in terms of its global market share and religious conservatism/fundamentalism is expected to grow in both the developing world and in the developed world (see: Desecularization). There are a number of causes of desecularization in the developed world (and the world at large), but two of the primary causes are the higher fertility rate of religious conservatives and immigration of the religious into developed countries.

The 21st century may see a growing desecularization of language.

Donald Trump, courting the vote of religious conservatives, said, "If I become president, we're gonna be saying Merry Christmas at every store ... You can leave happy holidays at the corner."[11] CNN reported about this incident, "Trump supporters in the room said it was precisely Trump's aversion to political correctness that attracted them to the colorful candidate."[12] See also: Atheism and Christmas

See also

Notes

1 Sometimes C.E. is an abbreviation for "Christian era" instead of "common era", but this also conceals the historical basis due to Jesus Christ being Jewish. Christianity would not exist as a separate religion until much later.

Sometimes C.E. is an abbreviation for "Christian era" instead of "common era", but this also conceals the historical basis due to Jesus Christ being Jewish. Christianity would not exist as a separate religion until much later. 2 The 'X' in "Xmas" was originally an abbreviation for the Greek letter "chi" translated as "Ch", though the abbreviation eventually became a means of "crossing out Christ".

The 'X' in "Xmas" was originally an abbreviation for the Greek letter "chi" translated as "Ch", though the abbreviation eventually became a means of "crossing out Christ". 3 Easter was originally a pagan festival, upon which Christianity would later apply the Resurrection of Christ and surrounding events (such as the Crucifixion on Good Friday). "Resurrection Sunday" is often used to emphasize the Resurrection of Christ rather than the pagan holiday.

Easter was originally a pagan festival, upon which Christianity would later apply the Resurrection of Christ and surrounding events (such as the Crucifixion on Good Friday). "Resurrection Sunday" is often used to emphasize the Resurrection of Christ rather than the pagan holiday. 4 Washington's Birthday was February 11 in the Julian calendar, while Lincoln's Birthday was February 12 in the Gregorian. Under the Gregorian calendar, Washington's Birthday would be February 22. Thus Washington's birthday would be more accurate. (source)

Washington's Birthday was February 11 in the Julian calendar, while Lincoln's Birthday was February 12 in the Gregorian. Under the Gregorian calendar, Washington's Birthday would be February 22. Thus Washington's birthday would be more accurate. (source) 5 This was part of the original Pledge of Allegiance. "Under God" was added in the 1950s at the request of President Eisenhower. (source) However, atheists such as Michael Newdow have been trying to remove the phrase "under God" from the Pledge through the federal courts (source)

This was part of the original Pledge of Allegiance. "Under God" was added in the 1950s at the request of President Eisenhower. (source) However, atheists such as Michael Newdow have been trying to remove the phrase "under God" from the Pledge through the federal courts (source) 6 Pro-choice people often use the phrase "birth control" regardless of whether conception has occurred.

References



