godbag

n. a person who espouses or promotes a religion, especially in politics or the public sphere. Subjects: English, Religion, Derogatory

Editorial Note: A different “god bag” is a device for relieving psychological burdens: it is a receptacle that holds pieces of paper on which one has described one’s troubles. The 2001 citation is probably an unrelated nonce usage, as the writer has used the word “God” to replace obscenities throughout the post. Etymological Note: Perhaps patterned after “windbag,” “dirtbag,” “douchebag,” or “scumbag.”

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Citations: [2001 Usenet: co.general (Oct. 11) “Re: That about sums it up”: And there’s not a one of these motherGoders who doesn’t have some great plan with how to deal with the terrorists, ranging from the gung-ho kill “em alls to the pinko hippie tolerance rhetoric. Ya know what, General Godbag?…Look at the smoldering corpses in the rubble of the World Trade Center and see what befriending the downtrodden third-world Godbags of society has given us.] 2005 [Twisty] I Blame The Patriarchy (June 12) “Godbags + Fetuses = LUV 4 EVER”: What can the motive be behind Godbag Nation’s hysterical love affair with the non-viable second-trimester fetus? Our governor-mullahs claim they are “protecting the unborn” because they “love life.” 2005 [Steven Sullivan] Usenet: alt.music.yes (Dec. 13) “Re: OT: I.D. Meeting Its Maker”: What the heck *happened* to these creatures? Did the intelligent designer just get tired or them, or what? Were they reptiles, or birds? The godbag crew says reptiles can’t evolve into birds, so what did the Archy line “microevolve” into? 2006 Cheryl Lindsey Seelhoff Women’s Space/The Margins (Apr. 19) ““Godbags”: Contempt, Gendered”: So, I wonder what the chances are of talking feminists, pro-feminists and allies to feminists, in particular, out of using the word “godbag,” a word I’m currently seeing all over the internet? 2007 [Eric] The Pool Bar (Spotsylvania, Virginia) (Feb. 16) “Final observations on the Marcotte/McEwan debacle”: Far worse than the language was the bitter hatred directed at Christians, particularly Catholics. I’m not a religious guy (godbag or christofascist in M&M parlance), but it was hard not to take offense at the immaculate conception being referred to as God filling Mary with his “hot, white, sticky holy spirit.”

Posted 8 Mar 07 | Permalink | Tell a Friend

Reader comments:

Wrong, I’m afraid. A godbag does not merely espouse or promote a religion, a godbag is an intolerant authoritarian zealot, who uses religious language to persecute others who make choices the godbag doesn’t like.

Religious people who respect the right of others to make their own choices are not godbags.

by tigtog 18 Apr 07, 1004 GMT

I appreciate that to you “godbag” means what you’ve posted here and on your web site, but my definition is based on an examination of how the term is used by many people, not just you, and not just in the cites I chose to include in my entry. As is often the case with slang, across the broad pattern of usage the meanings’s sharp edges are beveled down so that it becomes less derogatory, more generalized, and more bland as it spreads among more people and across a longer expanse of time. Also, since the term is relatively new, there is not a clearcut consensus as to the severity or specificity of its meaning. My definition is all-inclusive and covers the broad range of uses, from people who use it merely to mean “a believer in God” to those who might choose your definition. Perhaps in a few years when the term has had a chance to spread further and be more widely used I will reexamine the definition to see how it settled out.

by Grant Barrett 18 Apr 07, 0759 GMT

Many lexicographers differentiate between how a term is used as jargon and how the word is used as broad slang. In fact, doing so is almost the definition of a superior dictionary.

e.g. in theological jargon, atheists are simply not theists (and thus agnostics are also atheists), whereas in common slang atheists actively deny the possibly of god (which theologically is referred to as anti-theism).

Off to see what your entry says there.

by tigtog 18 Apr 07, 0953 GMT

Also, the two 2005 references explicitly refer to authoritarian intolerance (anti-abortionists, creationists) when using the term. The 2006 reference is pure faux-etymology from an unqualified pundit: surely you know the problems with etymological speculation based on homophones?

by tigtog 18 Apr 07, 1000 GMT

Yep, I’m aware of it. That’s why that etymology is not supported in the etymological note.

by Grant Barrett 18 Apr 07, 1002 GMT

Sorry for three in a row - you don’t have an entry for atheist, and I understand why as you’re covering emerging language.

Still, when “focusing on slang, jargon, new words,”, isn’t differentiating between jargon and slang important?

by tigtog 18 Apr 07, 1004 GMT

Note that I have neither marked the term as jargon, nor as slang.

by Grant Barrett 18 Apr 07, 1006 GMT

Fair enough: I do understand that the term is still emerging, and my point is made.

by tigtog 18 Apr 07, 1016 GMT