Boss told me off for exclaiming Jesus Christ

Of course, Jesus didn't exists in Old Testament times, so wasn't "the Lord" then, That's be rather backfilled.

Of course, you don't believe any of it at all, which you're perfectly entitled not to do; but the Bible does indeed clearly state that Jesus, as part of the Godhead, existed in Old Testament times - so that isn't quite the gotcha that you may have thought it would be to a Bible-believing Christian.

Like many posters have said, an exclamation like that isn’t very suitable for a workplace meeting.

I wonder if your boss has been pulled up for something DEI related and is extra worried now.

Never ever bring logic anywhere near religion. They don't play nicely together and logic always loses out.

Do you find apostrophes offensive?

It doesn't matter about who is is blaspheming surely. If you had used a jewish phrase that was blasphemous then it would be seen as being wrong so why is it different if it is a christian phrase.

Ridiculous. I’d have rolled my eyes but I despise religion

Really the boss here isn't that bright.

The correct way forwards would have been to simply note that generally loud exclamations aren't encouraged. No matter what they are. That's my suggestion in an open shared office.

And a "loud exclamation" would be one that could be heard by persons uninvolved in the conversation. Especially if it's a conversation of one person.

That would avoid the need for a discussion about religion, language, culture, and history that would be well beyond the expectations of the company and a serious dent in the working day.

It's not swearing, but it's that type of phrase not suitable for the workplace really. Not sure why, particularly as I don't believe. Probably just hear my granny telling me off for using the Lords name in vain. Gish, I miss those days.

BTW the 'cultural Christianity' aspect is also why the false equivalency with Islam is stupid.

Quite possibly…

Think of this this way, my mum no effect on your life, no influence at all.

But as an atheist, I happily celebrate the two months of birthday celebrations for Jesus, eat chocolate and hot cross buns at Easter. I had prayers in school, Nativity is still there. Bishops in the Lords. Head of the country is head of the CoE and on and on. Atheists are told we should be OK with this because we are 'culturally Christian'. OK so I should get to culturally use words associated with that religion? After all, they are part of my culture but not my religion, so I'm not blaspheming. No? Why?

That’s a much more offensive statement than OP’s was.

Your mums an arsehole

Does that apply to all religions or judt Christianity?

It's a topsy turvey world when an atheist is read as an expert on Christianity ...

(Admittedly I have read the Bible.)

Interesting! So it was a “Jesus Christ, hooray!” not a “Jesus fucking Christ, not again”? I wonder if that changes people’s views. I think I assumed negative as I’d use “oh my God!” for positive news and “Jesus wept” for negative stuff.

No why would it? Why would I police their opinion of my mum.

Not appropriate in a meeting, I wouldn’t think ‘oh my gos’ or damn etc appropriate in a meeting either. A meeting is formal and so language should be professional. I wouldn’t think a big deal if said generally in the office though, so if your laptop wouldn’t switch on and you said it for example.

I'm an atheist and say "Jesus Christ" on occasion, but agree with your boss. It is a form of swearing and Christians may well be upset by it. It's not appropriate in a work setting.
Depends what the telling off was. If it was a simple "Don't say that in the office please" then YABU, if it was made to be a massive deal, then you'd have a point.

If someone called your mum an arsehole would that piss you off??

I would be offended by that and maybe practice better self control whilst at work? It is not very professional.

If only religions were about peoples personal relationship with God. Maybe we'd head a lot less about them then.

You can blame the "Good News" for that. If I were to be really snarky I would suggest that was sneaked into the gospels by someone who really hoped it would piss enough people off to ensure the new fangled Jewish cult didn't survive.

As the wonderful and eloquent Sir Terry Pratchett said,

“When you hit your thumb with an eight-pound hammer it’s nice to be able to blaspheme. It takes a very special and strong-minded atheist to jump up and down with their hand clasped under their other armpit and shout, ‘Oh, random-fluctuations-in-the-space-time-continuum!’ or ‘Aaargh, primitive-and-outmoded-concept of a crutch!”

Other countries and languages have their own versions of ‘oh my god!’, used as an exclamation, that reflect their own religious heritages.

Right you have explained why it would be offensive for someone else who is a Christian to use the terms but not for someone who is a non- believer.

how does it affect you if you hear someone say these words if they themselves don’t believe in the religion? What specifically is offensive? How does it affect your personal relationship with god?