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.

I agree - if we apply the same rules and protection to religion then it must be to all religions.

I think you misquoted

Or none.

It's equality we are after here.

@SerendipityJane
I agree all or nothing. What we have at the moment is rules which vary - for example the issues in the school where a teacher for example are in hiding for offending one religion whilst some will be blaspheming and that is deemed to be non offensive. Consistency is important as it is the unequal treatment of different religions that caused people to become more resentful.

Always the insults...

It's not much of an insult, is it? If you're genuinely upset by the incredibly common vernacular non swearing phrase "jesus Christ", you are in fact pious (a descriptive word which is in no way an insult). And I'm.not sure "do-gooder" can be counted as offensive, given that Christians, especially the pious ones, are supposed to do good.

I don't think complaining about other people's common speech usage is doing good though. Aren't you meant to be turning the other cheek and kissing your enemies etc?

However England has the head of state as the head of church. It really is our official choice of Sunday sermon.

It's not our choice, is it? It was someone's choice, a few centuries ago, and it's irrelevant now.

I still think it's very insensitive - and odd - to deliberately invoke the name of a God in whom you don't believe and which presumably means nothing at all to you as a throwaway expression, when you know that it will offend a great many people.

I've always though the same about Mecca bingo halls, too. I'm not a Muslim, but of all the millions of names they could have chosen, it seems crass and deliberately designed to cause offence to choose to name a large gambling company the same as the holy city of a religion that is strictly against gambling of all kinds.

It's not even just about religion; I'm an omnivore, but I would think that somebody opening a butcher's shop or steakhouse restaurant and opting to name it 'The Weeping Vegan' or similar was a nasty person who was deliberately seeking to wholly unnecessarily upset and offend a great many people with sincerely held beliefs.

Don't be faux disingenuous: the phrase 'do-gooder' is very much a derogatory and insulting one, as you well know.

It's never, ever used in a positive or complimentary way to describe somebody with kind, noble or genuine charitable aims.

I’m vegan and I see your point however ‘The Weeping Vegan’ is the coolest name for a butchers or even a vegan restaurant I have ever heard 😂

Everyone who thinks it's OK to blaspheme- teach your child to say "Jesus Christ" and tell them to say it as often as they can at school. And then see what their teacher thinks.

Personally I really like children's T-shirts with OMG on. It's like clothes designers for supermarkets were seeing how far they could push things.

I was referring the post I specifically quoted...

We don't need to teach them l, they absorb it naturally. And they do say it school...like their teachers. It's completely fine.

Yes, I know. I very specifically referenced it. Not sure what confused you.

Obviously. (No idea where youre getting faux disingenuous from, which btw makes no sense) But the point was that it's not much of an insult, as insults go, is it?

I think my fundamental problem with the OP’s situation is that employers are so very worried about not looking super PC (usually on behalf of someone else rather than themselves) that they’re willing to demoralise their staff, patronise them in front of colleagues and deal with very superficial problems that can be dealt with with a swift bollocking rather than looking at ACTUAL problems that require long term solutions and a bit more thought. 3 out of 5 women are sexually harassed in the workplace. That can’t be dealt with by a patronising bollocking in a meeting where a manager can pat themselves on the back for Doing Something - it requires a culture change and awkward conversation and introspection that most managers are too thick, scared or misogynistic to deal with properly.

And then they no doubt wonder why their staff are demoralised and want to leave for a more respectful workplace where swears are allowed but coming on to female colleagues isn’t.

I think it’s fine to blaspheme and swear but I’m also aware that what is ok isn’t accepted in schools or for children, so no I won’t teach my child to do this. Why don’t you teach yourself to get a grip?

I couldn't care less if a child in my class used a made up character from a story book as a way to express themselves. Be it Jesus Christ on a bike or whatever other vehicle he's using, or Holy Batman.

I'm more concerned with their learning.

@SquashedSquid
So what if the students in your class blaspheme in a different religion? I suspect parents and students might complain

@JandamiHash I have a very firm grip on life in general, thanks.

Why don't you get a sense of humour? The laughing emoji was there to aid you on fathoming that my comment was light hearted and humorous.

Again, whatever fictional character they choose to use the name of as an exclamation, I really don't care. It's a made up name.

@SquashedSquid making up an imaginary character, believing in an imaginary character and using the name of an imaginary character from any religion as an expletive are very different things, as I'm sure you're aware if you're a primary school teacher.

I still think it's very insensitive - and odd - to deliberately invoke the name of a God in whom you don't believe and which presumably means nothing at all to you as a throwaway expression, when you know that it will offend a great many people.

@DalzielOrNoDalzielAndDontPascoe
It’s not true that using an expression like ‘Jesus Christ’ or ‘Dear God’ means you don’t believe in God though?
Not sure why you’d think that.
Some people are just more relaxed about their faith and these things are cultural to a large extent anyway.