I am a student social worker currently in placement. I am surprised to find that some of my colleagues regularly use "Jesus", "Christ" or "Jesus Christ" when talking/swearing, as indeed do several of my student colleagues. As a Christian I do find this offensive, though have never had the courage to say anything. I mentioned this to a supervisor in supervision and was told that this is MY issue, and not other people's and that I should accept that I live in a secular world.

My thinking though, is that I would never use Muhammad as a swear word for example, I would never want to offend anyone of any faith and would fully respect their choices.

My question is, should we expect our social work colleagues to respect our faith and choose their language more carefully, or should Christians accept that people blaspheme without thinking about it and just accept it? And if it's the latter would we expect the same for other faiths? If it's the former, how should I approach this?

You raise a very important issue here 'BBHG' in that we should all not necessarily "respect" the faiths of others (because often we don't and even fundamentally disagree) but safeguard their rights to hold such faith and ensure that they are not offended by some of the things others say with little or no thought as to the offence they are causing that individual.

It is a shame that open discussion around religion has almost become a taboo subject on a par with racism when, in fact, there is no such relationship at all. We all ought to be able to be asked about our faith and to discuss it - not to force it on others.

So, my response is that we ought to always be careful about the words we use - and certainly the expletives we utter. I do agree that saying "Oh Christ" "Oh my God" "For God's Sake" etc. as expressions of frustration or even excitement are not acceptable and we ought to be able to challenge. It is not easy though but unless we do how do others know that they are upsetting us. 

We should also be careful about other religions.

I am open, in other words I have no particular religion but am also understand atheists but I get annoyed when Christians make fun of pagans and Spiritualists but mostly humanists are ignored.

There are so many religions and it is easy to offend through ignorance but we also need to remember that there are many people who believe that religions have caused many ills in society.

So we'll probably never get this one right

And in my authority catholic children get a choice of two schools to go to with a free school bus whereas atheists don't and this really does annoy me.

I am also Christian ( Roman Catholic) and I have absolutely no objection to blasphemy or swearing. I actually do both so Im not such a good example The only time I would take offence is if someone swore at me in an aggressive way and even then it would depend on the circumstances. I do ,however,acknowlwdge your right to be treated with dignity and respect at work and if I was offering supervision I would view this as NOT your problem but the problem of the workforce as a whole. I swear like a trooper but if someone was offended by my language I would not hesitate to adjust/change it , at least in their presence. Expressions such as "Jesus" and "Jesus Christ" are unfortunately used by many and not intended to cause offense but other words such as "***" and "Darkie" were equally used by many people ,ignorant yes ,but without intent to cause injury to feelings. Nowdays it is regarded as extrtemely offensive to use these terms. And rightly so. I think your supervisor has taken the wrong approach here and  appears not to be taking your concwerns seriuosly enough. I would speak to her again and ask her to perhaps raise the issue and explain that it does annoy/upset you. Any decent person would acknowledge that unwanted behaviour can eventually lead to discrimination . For futher info see.......    http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/yourrights/equalityanddiscrimination/religionandbelief/Pages/Whatisreligiousdiscrimination.aspx

I am a Christian and attend church on a regular basis. I was the butt of alot of jokes which colleagues thought were quite funny regarding my faith and how I conducted myself with service users. They found it hilarious that a SW in a Child Portection Team would even consider attending church let alone belive in my faith. It is quite interesting howver, these same colleagues would seek me out if they needed adice and comfort through diffilcult situations including talking to their service users on their behalf.

Ive been there as well Lins. I worked in a supported housing service and one service user was a devout catholic and had been going to mass regularly (his Mum had always taken him prior to her death.) I was horrified bythe number of people on the staff who refused to take him to Mass because they were not religeous. No regard for his wishes. When i volunteered i was treated with suspiscion LOL. No one could believe that anyone would willingly attend a church service. So much for person centred care. Anyway we went and he was well known by the other church goers who seemed happy to see him back within the fold.

'anne_123' I hardly think that you have anything to boast about if you "swear like a trooper" - I hope it isn't at work and not in front of service users. You need to accept that it is extremely difficult for many people to challenge others - especially where there is an actual or percieved imbalance of power.

Would it not be better to generally moderate your language? You would certainly cause less offence.

I was not "boasting" Rupert,merely being honest and yes i swear at work and in front of service users .This is not done in an aggressive,abusive or offensive way and all my service users use the same language as do the majority of my colleagues. It is carried out as a manner of speech and while not appropraite in all situations it is acceptable culturally and socially in my area. Please dont misunderstand  its not like the granny in Catherine Tates show but to have said anything other than "I swear like a trooper" would have been a downright lie. I notice you had no objection to blasphemy by the way.

 Surely almost all of us swear and blaspheme - it's just modern life isn't it? If someone told me they found it offensive I would stop but that's not my default position. Is it possible to go through life without offending anyone?

I doubt that you could ever get through life without offending someone Simeon2 and I agree I am sure that we all swear at some point. I must say I am a Christian and as a Christian I have always been told that we should not judge others by the way the ychoose to live their life's (I feel major posts coming just from that comment) and yes I am a Social Worker and proud of it. I have worked in a very deprived area nad had people swear at me not to be aggressive but because that is how they talk. I dont particularly like it but I am not going to put them down for it as the would then feel very oppressed (I assume). Blaspheming does actually bother me that much. i have been heard to say for God's sake (especially recently reading some posts) but again lets get real about this what can we say without someone jumping up and down? Please be reasonable people it is not the end of the world and aren't we told to turn the other cheek and that famous saying he who is without sin cast the first stone.

On the other hand I dont swear or expect others to do so in front of a child and have challenged people who have if I am with my son but that is more to do with my values and ethics with regards to how I bring my sion up and yes he does attend church voluntarily with me and how do I know it is voluntarily because I asked him.    

If you are correct 'anne_m123' that all your Service Users also swear then I wonder just what sort of example you are setting them. You seem to be setting no example to either colleagues or Service Users.

Yes, I most certainly do object to blasphemy.

We need to demonstrate that we respect others and swearing is not any way to demonstrate that respect.

Perhaps you need to try and rise above the 'lowest common denominator.'

I bet your service users like being referred to as "the lowest common denominator". Good heavens. As it were.

To be honest, I think by definition if god is all powerful and created the universe - the generic definition of god - then surely he/she/it is big enough and strong enough to take a few attempts to take their name in vain - without having to depend on us small silly humans to defend he/she/it.

'Sometimes i think people worry too much, sometimes i think we all take things too seriously' -an athesist