Oh Gods!!

Product Information

This last idea is at the heart of much of Stark's work. It is a component of the major sociological model for which Stark is perhaps best known: the rational-choice theory of religion, which proposes that in an environment of religious freedom people choose to develop and maintain their religious beliefs in accordance with the laws of a "religious economy." This model of religious history and change, Stark feels, is what should replace the traditional model—which, he has written, is based on the erroneous and fundamentally secular idea of "progress through theological refinement." It's a controversial model (some find the science of economics only dimly enlightening even when applied to financial markets), but it has become a major force in recent theorizing about religion. Many of the presentations at the London conference used it as a starting point. In Frank Herbert's Dune series, despite the fact that Muad'Dib and his son Leto II are both worshipped (and both involved in eradicating other religions, especially the latter who was viewed in a more or less monotheistic way), characters frequently exclaim "Gods Below!" throughout the series. (The gods in question are the sandworms, to which Fremen myth attributes with divine or semi-divine character.)

By Io!" rather than "By Jove!" and in one book the exclamation "Oh my god!" prompts the reply "Which one?"

Choblik "By the Grace of the Great Builders" (overlaps with Thank The Maker, given that Choblik are cyborgs who were non-sapient until the Builders installed their implants). Fungus the Bogeyman has Fungus exclaim, "Why, for slime's sake?!" which is particularly strange because slime is what Bogeys drink. The title character of Life of Pi, who puzzles the Indian community he grows up in by practicing Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam at the same time, appeals to "Jesus, Mary, Mohammed, and Vishnu!" in one breath. When a tiger climbs into his lifeboat.

They also seem to like using "Crows!" or "Crowsbegotten", given that crows are a symbol of battle and death, given their tendancy to congregate around battlefields to scavenge the dead. The book The Last Dragon had characters say "By Jesus's blessed tree!" sometimes. According to the author, this was an actual medieval curse. Depending on how developed the world is, it is also quite common to invoke actual gods by name, such as the Gauls in Asterix saying "By Toutatis!" (well, he was an actual Gaulish god). Another common variation used by future civilizations is to invoke science or scientists instead. Occasionally an Alternate History with a non-monotheistic major religion will use this to demonstrate how different that world is. Sometimes a Physical God will reference themselves in this manner, with "By me!", " I swear by Myself!"," Jesus H. Me!" or similar.

In Laurie J. Marks' Elemental Logic series, several characters swear by Shaftal (which, for a change, is not a god but the country where the books take place). However, the Sainnites use the more usual "Gods of hell!", and the half-Sainnite seer Medric often exclaims "Gods of my father!"

Amusingly, the Judges of East Meg One (former Soviet Union) seem to have taken the traditional Soviet state religion to the point where "God" has been replaced by the names of the ruling Diktatorat's members in the vernacular, like "in Bulgarin's name" or "Vlad knows". In the original French comic books of The Smurfs, Papa Smurf would say "Nom d'un Schtroumpf!" ("In the name of a Smurf!") while Farmer would say "Cre vingt schtroumpfs!" ("Twenty sacred smurfs!"). Gargamel in the English translation of "The Painter Smurf" says "By Beelzebub's horns" early in the story. We need to take the new Christianity very seriously," Philip Jenkins told me. "It is not just Christianity plus drums. If we're not careful, fifty years from now we may find a largely secular North defining itself against a largely Christian South. This will have its implications." Gods!" and variations thereof are common in the Heralds of Valdemar series. Characters with mentioned faiths sometimes invoke specific deities; examples include the Windborn, the Star-Eyed Goddess, and Vkandis Sunlord, the latter two having manifested as real characters on various occasions. In Fiona Patton's Tales of the Branion Realm series, many characters worship a fire god, and use expressions such as "scorch it," or "that blazing bastard."In the same novel Om, the Omnian god, says "Oh, Me!" (Note the caps.) Which wouldn't have been odd if he wasn't a small turtle with a single true worshipper. The rabbits in Watership Down often swear by their sun god Frith, occasionally using constructions such as "Frith in a pond!" or "Frith in a treetop!" At one point, Fiver exclaims "O embleer Frith!" in exasperation; given that "embleer" is a strong insult in the rabbit language, this is probably downright blasphemous. Mission from God: The plot of the first two films have John Denver and Louanne Sirota appointed as God's messengers and tasked with spreading His message. In Oathbringer, the Herald Shallash becomes the first character in the entire Cosmere to swear by Adonalsium, the original god of the Cosmere. Dogs of the Drowned City: The dogs are prone to exclaiming stuff like "Bless my treats!", "My snout!", "Thank my master!", or even "Chew my rawhide!" in exasperation, surprise, or relief.

Her books made me cry of laughter when I was a teen, I had not laughed so hard in ages. I remember talking to my friend on the phone about it. No book had that effect on me.” Thor often swears "By Odin's beard!" Now he also uses it in Marvel vs. Capcom 3, the line has become more popular. And funnier. ("Buy Odin's beer!") It's more often "By the bristling beard of Odin!", though the shortened version does show up from time to time. He's also fond of "By the thousand threats of Ragnarok!" The variety of flourishing new religious movements around the world is astonishing and largely unrecognized in the West. The groups that generally grab all the attention—Moonies, Scientologists, Hare Krishnas, Wiccans—amount to a tiny and not particularly significant proportion of what's out there. Here are just a few representatively diverse examples of new movements from around the world: The titular protagonist often swears either "by the Abyss", "by all that is unholy" or "by all the gods".At the climax of Oh God! You Devil, when the Devil lost his nerve in a poker showdown with God, God commented, "I put the fear of Me into you." In the Dragaera novels, the hero, Vlad, will sometimes swear by his patron goddess, Verra, or use curses like "Verra-be-damned", which makes sense as she is called the "Demon Goddess." He's particularly fond of the exclamation "Verra's tits!" After realizing both that she hears this and that he can't turn it off even when the pair of them is physically present... he seems to step it up. Thank the Maker!", often said by C-3PO. In his specific case, this was Darth Vader. Not that he remembers. The Flying Sorcerers by Larry Niven and David Gerrold is a satire in which most of the names are Shoutouts to Creators in the science fiction world. The two suns are Ouells and Virn (Welles and Verne), there's Caff the goddess of dragons, Rot'n'bair the God of Sheep and his arch-enemy Nilsn , Hitch the god of birds, and Elcin, the "great and tiny god of thunder, lightning and loud noises."