Boss told me off for exclaiming Jesus Christ

[GloMum]

The other day my boss told me off for exclaiming Jesus Christ when I was surprised during a work meeting. Boss told me it’s rude towards people from different religions and asked me if I’d done my DEI training. I have, and I enjoy friendships with colleagues from varied backgrounds. I feel really stressed now in case I slip again, and embarrassed I should be told off.

YABU - This is an inappropriate exclamation at work
YANBU - It’s just an exclamation and you shouldn’t be told off for that.

Why is it funny?

I thought Jesus was a Muslim prophet. And it's not being used to "be offensive". It's an exclamation of frustration/shock/whatever. It's not all about you.

@HipMax "You can not like it all you want. You have no basis to say anything to anyone who works with you though, and you'd want to be careful."

As a manager, I could tell my team to conduct themselves professionally in meetings.

I once told a colleague he had an Oedipus complex. (I was quite young and stupid. But in my further defence, he also had an Oedipus complex.)

I don't think it's that bad in the list of blasphemy order, worst to just about tolerable.

I think the time to say something has been missed. You clearly didn't mean to offended anyone but use it as a phrase. Some people use it so commonly, in such a way that it's become watered down and you've already said you are christian and by using it, don't find it offensive yourself. However others will and it won't do you any harm to be mindful. Your boss could have just said that it's inappropriate to say in a workplace setting as some people would find it upsetting and leave if at that.

Some posters keep banging on about how you wouldn't speak of another Hindu deity or muslim prophet in this way, ignoring the fact that Muslims do consider Jesus a prophet and it's a completely different argument as the op doesn't belong to either of those religions anyway.

I do say things like, 'oh God, what is it now?', 'good god, god give me strength, heaven help me' but at home, usually in the school holidays.

I'm afraid I have absolutely no respect for grown adults who believe in deities and I won't be moderating my language to please them.

@RandomButtons can you answer? I’m really interested to know the answer. I keep posing the question and no one answers.

I honestly now believe it isn’t actually insulting. It is just now become part of the ‘it’s offensive’ hyperbole that goes around these days without any backing. Just the words ‘it’s offensive’ are used to control people’s words and thoughts.

In counties where Islam is the predominant religion, or has had significant influence, people would and do exactly that. My own country of origin included.

I don't like it personally

Round here there are several large companies owned by Plymouth Brethren families, I worked for one of them in my student days, great times, but you'd be fired for blasphemy in an instant.

Sorry, I really wouldn't have. Granted I'm older but there's still a lot of Christians who would have been offended. They're every bit as important as other religions.

There are so many other expressions. DH does Goodness... mine is good grief!

I’d object to the threat of violence.

That’s really not ok.

What causes the offence?

I’d have told you off too

It’s very offensive

This isn't difficult. It's about general etiquette and what it's appropriate to say at work and what isn't.

I am not a Christian or remotely religious. I am generally quite sweary. I say "Jesus Christ!" all the time, which for me, in my personal life and with friends, is a mild expletive.

But I don't do it at work or in front of certain family members. Why? Because I know that others DO or may find it offensive. It doesn't matter that I don't personally. I really feel no need to quiz or hound others on why they find it offensive either, or to prove how inferior I think they are to me for having religious beliefs I don't share, I just know they find it objectionable. It costs me precisely nothing to restrain myself from using that phrase and others I'd say in private in a work environment.

You're at work to be professional and that means being polite to those around you. Making exclamations that others may or do find offensive or objectionable in a work setting isn't professional. It's rude and shows poor etiquette. Which I assume is what your manager was getting at.

I don't like swearing or blasphemy of any kind, but of course I'm used to hearing it. I don't swear myself apart from the odd bloody, and I don't blaspheme at all, with regard to any religion.

I don't force my views on anyone else but I don't like it in my house and I don't think it's at all professional in the workplace. My previous boss (a very nice woman) used to swear like a trooper, really badly. I didn't think it was at all professional but I still liked her.

I really have to explain why using the name as a deity as a swear word is offensive?

It’s really not rocket science. Saying swear words as an exclamation words is meant to be offensive. Turning the name of a dirty into a swear word is offensive.

Why is the word sh1t offensive? Why is the F word offensive? Why is the C word mega offensive?

if you want to totally rationalise it no word of itself should be offensive. They are words with meanings. But society has deemed them offensive, and moreover the way they are said is offensive.

Using the name of a deity is more offensive because to the believer it’s a name that is divine, and to be revered. Mutating that to a swear word is offensive.

You don’t have to believe in anything to be a decent and kind person and not insult someone else’s faith to their face.

I’m not in the slightest bit religious, but it’s clear to me that any expletive in a professional setting is unprofessional, and us such surely one ought to expect to be pulled up on it, regardless of whether or not anyone is personally offended. No one really goes round saying ‘oh for fucks sake’, ‘jesus christ’, ‘bloody hell’, ‘c*nt’, ‘wanker’ or any other expletive in meetings do they? A building site, maybe. A garage, perhaps. On a sports field, almost certainly. Between colleagues, in private, occasionally. But in a group meeting at work?

I am a Christian and I don’t like to hear The Lord’s name being taken in vain but I don’t take offence when someone does this. I understand that people get into habits that are hard to change, particularly when shocked by something. My mother was confirmed when she was 58, and because the other candidates were all young teenagers the vicar offered to give her private confirmation classes. One evening this was the topic, they had a long discussion about it. Afterwards, over a coffee, they were just chatting and he told her about something that had happened to him that week. To her horror she heard herself say “Oh God, no” . The vicar, (very politely) didn’t notice! I’m sure that from now on you will be more aware, but if you slip, forgive yourself!

@Tryingtokeepgoing I don’t consider ‘Jesus Christ’ to be an expletive- neither do many people on this thread. I have used it- other people have even at work. I don’t think anything of it. Just saying it is offensive doesn’t make it so. I want a detailed explanation as to what specifically causes the offence. No one has provided it

and for the record ‘bloody hell’ is thrown about like confetti at my work with the occasional FFS. I work in a corporate office.

Please see my explanation above.

Again, this isn't difficult. Nobody is obliged to give you an explanation so I'm not sure why you appear to feel so self righteous about your demand to have one.

Why is any "expletive' seen as offensive? They are words (most languages have them) which are used in that way and have historically or culturally been so. Usually, expletives are to do with bodily functions or body parts, or to do with religion/blasphemy - they are meant to be taboo or offensive in some way or have been in the past. That's their purpose, language-wise.

Look, I have family members who I have never, EVER heard utter the word "bloody" even. Or "damn." And many of them are not remotely religious. They don't "do" swearing of any intensity or level. Many generations, especially before mine (I'm Gen X) were brought up with the idea that swearing of any kind is an ill-mannered, unintelligent thing to do, or that "people swear when they have little in the way of vocabulary".

Perhaps you just have poor manners as do the people around you in your workplace, or its not a particularly diverse one in terms of mix of people, different ages, and backgrounds (after all, diversity isn't just about one group it's about a mix of people in general)? It would have been frowned on in work meetings in most of my corporate jobs - doesn't mean people didn't say it outside of that or in private conversations. That swearing's been normalised in later generations and people don't see any boundary there kind of removes its "power" in a way. I'm not sure that's a good thing. And as I say, it's not generally considered a professional one in most workplaces. It's not about whether YOU consider it an expletive or not. It's not about you. Plenty of people still do. That's the whole point being made. Nobody has to explain to you why.

As I say, maybe I’m getting old. I’d put ‘jesus christ’ (which I wouldn’t capitalise…) and ‘for fucks sake’ in the same category of phrase that I’d happily use day to day and 121 to emphasise a point, but not in a professional ‘group’ capacity. But then I am over 50, so for the last 15/20 years my experience is really only in international, corporate boardrooms where I didn’t hear or use that sort of language. Perhaps Boards are more articulate ;)

Usually people swear at their desks muttering under their breath at something that has gone wrong- happens a lot. I don’t think anyone would use them in a formal meeting (but not unheard of I expect) . I don’t recall saying that that happens. You have described the exact scenario I described.

I absolutely would change my words if someone can explain why they are offensive and so far no one had. Just saying it is offensive just doesn’t mean it is. as I said previously my grandmother found the word ‘knackered’ the most offensive of words. If you uttered it you got a severe telling off. I found this odd as I used it to mean very tired but she attributed a different meaning to it. If she was in an office would she have had to right to tell you not to use it?