Bit of a tangent and not saying it’s necessarily the case here, but it annoys me when people don’t capitalise God despite it being a proper noun. It’s confusing.
Zeus is a god. Zeus is not God. God is a god and God is God.
In this context, it’s ambiguous if Penn is saying that God (Christians’ god) doesn’t exist, or if he’s saying that no gods exist, exactly because people don’t capitalise properly and consistently.
On a similar note, people who don’t capitalise church properly when it’s used as a proper noun and referring to the Church.
The church hid paedophiles = paedophiles were hiding in a church building. The Church hid paedophiles = the Catholic/Anglican Church hid paedophiles.
If you go on a site like wikipedia, you’ll notice they also capitalise Mormon Church for exactly this reason.
If you’re discussing the Jehovah’s witnesses, you’d also capitalise accordingly.
Eg. A former Jehovah’s witness has taken on the Church over sex abuse that occured in the church on 110th Street.
The capital helps you differentiate between a church building and the institution. A member of the Church is taking on the Church for something that happened in a church. A church that belongs to the Church.
Bit of a tangent and not saying it’s necessarily the case here, but it annoys me when people don’t capitalise God despite it being a proper noun. It’s confusing.
Zeus is a god. Zeus is not God. God is a god and God is God.
In this context, it’s ambiguous if Penn is saying that God (Christians’ god) doesn’t exist, or if he’s saying that no gods exist, exactly because people don’t capitalise properly and consistently.
On a similar note, people who don’t capitalise church properly when it’s used as a proper noun and referring to the Church.
The church hid paedophiles = paedophiles were hiding in a church building. The Church hid paedophiles = the Catholic/Anglican Church hid paedophiles.
Why not the Mormon church or the Jehovah’s Witness church?
If you go on a site like wikipedia, you’ll notice they also capitalise Mormon Church for exactly this reason.
If you’re discussing the Jehovah’s witnesses, you’d also capitalise accordingly.
Eg. A former Jehovah’s witness has taken on the Church over sex abuse that occured in the church on 110th Street.
The capital helps you differentiate between a church building and the institution. A member of the Church is taking on the Church for something that happened in a church. A church that belongs to the Church.
e: I’ve typed church too much. I need a break.
I was more questioning the statement “The Church hid paedophiles = the Catholic/Anglican Church hid paedophiles.”
Why would it imply that specific church (or Church if you prefer) rather than any other, when it seems to apply to all Churches?
Ah sorry. Church as in institution, rather than a particular brand. My comment was unclear.
To be fair, the Catholic Church would be my go to if someone were to mention pedophiles in the context of religion.
There doesn’t seem to be a great way to designate “the church” in a way that encompasses all/any branches of religion.