Secularized Language

While the development of conservative words grows by doubling each century, those with an anti-Christian and anti-conservative agenda, such as liberals, homosexuals, atheists, evolutionists and leftists, have attempted to remove the Christian traditions of the english language by replacing common phrases with secularized versions. By appealing to tolerance and political correctness, they have succeeded in propagating these secularized versions, even among those who don't share their views.

Calendar Terms

Original expression	Secularized version
God be with you	Goodbye
B.C./A.D.	B.C.E./C.E.1
Christ's Mass	Christmas
Christmas	Xmas2
Christmas Holiday	Winter Break/The holiday season
Easter Holiday	Spring Break
Gregorian calendar	Civil calendar
All Hallow's Eve	Halloween
Holy Day	Holiday
Independence Day	The Fourth of July
Merry Christmas	Happy Holidays/Season's Greetings
Resurrection Sunday	Easter3
Saint Valentine's Day	Valentine's Day
Shrove Tuesday	Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras, Carnival
The Reverend Martin Luther King Day	MLK Day/Martin Luther King Day
Washington's Birthday4	President's Day

Expressions and Colloquialisms

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

General Examples

Original expression	Secularized version
Heathen	Homosexual/Gay
Abomination	Mistake
Abortion	Birth control6
Act of God	Natural disaster
Adultery	Cheating
Adultery	Fooling around
Angelic	Pretty/beautiful
Anti-Christian bigotry	Secularism
Anti-fetal life	Pro-choice
Bible study	Fundamentalism
Blasphemy	Secular opinion
Blessed	Lucky
Chosen lifestyle	Innate characteristics
Contraception	Protection
Covetousness	Inequality
Creation	Abiogenesis
Curse	Bad luck
Disciple of Christ	Christian
Diabolical	Dishonest/Underhanded
Drunkard	Alcoholic
Father	Old man/dad/daddy
Fertile	Breeder
Flood	Flooding
Flood	Flood waters
Glory	Praise
God	A higher power/deity
God	Mother Nature
God-fearing	Intolerant
God-given	Natural
Godless	Secular
Golden Rule	Altruism
Govern	Rule
Harlot	Sex worker
Harlot	Prostitute
Harlot	Slut
Heathen	Multicultural
Hell (or Heaven)	Afterlife
Heavenly	Beautiful
Heresy	Scientific theory
Heretic	Drug Addict
Holy matrimony	Civil union
Homosexual	Gay/Queer
Husband or wife	Significant other/life partner
Immoral	Personal choice
Lazy	Lacks motivation
Mankind	Humankind
Meek	Weak
Miraculous	Amazing
Nation	Country/State/Government
Nature	Social construct
Possessed	Crazy/insane
Possessed	Influenced
Pray	Plead
Prayer/blessing	Moment of silence
Pro-abortion	Pro-choice
Pro-fetal murder	Pro-choice
Providence	Lucky break
Reckoning	Accountability
Religion	Spirituality
Righteous	Law-abiding
Sacred	Respected
Sanctify	Set apart
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
Unborn baby	Fetus
Wicked	Antisocial
Wicked	Naughty
Witchcraft	Wicca, (Neo-)Pagan
With child	Pregnant

Names

Original expression	Secularized version
Christian Name	Given Name, First Name, forename

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 governement 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.

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' 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 breeching the Third Commandment as it is to an increasing desire to reintroduce Christian terminology into everyday speech.

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.
• 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".
• 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.
• ⁴ Washington's Birthday was February 11th in the Julian calendar, while Lincoln's Birthday was February 12th in the Gregorian. Under the Gregorian calendar, Washington's Birthday would be February 22nd. 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)
• ⁶ Pro-choice people often use the phrase "birth control" regardless of whether conception has occurred.

See Also

• Politically correct
• Liberal creep
• Opposition to Christianity
• Contrast with Essay:Best New Conservative Words