TOPICS discussed in this slot in recent weeks have included the use of potentially sensitive words or phrases, profanity, and the development and evolution of the language. This week’s subject cuts across all three themes.
A reader has raised the issue of religion. One of our columnists, discussing the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, recently wrote: “God, they just can’t help themselves, can they? So smug, so self-satisfied, it’s all just so infuriating..”
A reader emailed to say: “I wish to register a complaint about the use of the word ‘God’ [in this instance].
“I consider that respect for your readers demands that you should not casually use words that are likely to offend. Taking the name of the divinity in vain does offend me and is likely to offend others. "
Point taken. It is not good policy to casually offend, as clearly has happened in this instance with our reader. But how many people are in fact upset by such usage in this day and age?
Would “Dear God, what are they up to?” have been more acceptable, since that is an invocation rather than an expletive?
And is our columnist guilty of blasphemy (Oxford definition: “The action or offence of speaking sacrilegiously about God or sacred things; profane talk”?)
I imagine a jury of our readers would say that this is not a hanging offence, even if by majority verdict.
Our reader goes on to ask if there is any innate secular anti-Christian bias at play here, and if we would have allowed the word “Allah” to be so used. Well, no – it wouldn’t have arisen, because “Allah” isn’t part of our general discourse in the same way that “Damn it” or “go to Hell” are.
Are you offended by those last two terms? Some will be, though not nearly as many as would have been, say, 50 years ago, given the steep decline in religious affiliation in Scotland in recent decades. As an illustration of the changing times, not so very long ago the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland was regarded as Scotland’s parliament by proxy and would merit two pages of daily coverage in the Glasgow Herald; these days Kirk membership has declined to around 330,000, and although we cover the main debates, space has been reduced in accordance with news values. This comes against a backdrop of Christianity itself falling away in Scotland, with only seven per cent of Scots attending church according to a 2017 survey.
Our reader ends his email with a plaintive “How far does The Herald style guide cover this kind of issue?” The short answer is, it doesn’t: nothing under “Church” or “Religion”, although, as alluded to above, there is this injunction: “Remember the reader, and respect demands that we should not casually use words that are likely to offend.”
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It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
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We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
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