Profanity Dumbing Down American Culture

Profanity is as old as humanity. We know this from reading ancient inscriptions chiseled in stone. But we also know that use of profanity is increasing in American culture, among children and youth, politicians, just about everyone. Swearing, cussing, vulgarity, obscenity have gone mainstream in both amount and intensity. In terms of civilization, this is not a good trend. In terms of e pluribus unum, this is not a good trend. In terms of education, law and order, religion, and public moral consensus, this is not a good trend. One would think Christians need not be reminded, but this is not the case. Christian believers are yielding to new "acceptable sins" too. Perhaps most troubling of all, "Oh my God" has become an all-purpose phrase for surprise, anger, startle reflex, happiness, grief, even online as OMG. For more Christian commentary, check my website at rexmrogers.com or my YouTube channel @DrRexRogers. #language #profanity #vulgarity #rude&crude #cursing 

Transcript

Ever meet someone who could not seem to speak a sentence without using profanity, and then wonder why they speak this way?

Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #202 of Discerning What Is Best, a podcast applying unchanging biblical principles in a rapidly changing world, and a Christian worldview to current issues and everyday life.

Profanity, swearing, cussing, cursing, obscenity, vulgarity, expletives and epithets have likely existed since the dawn of time. In ancient Sumerian (one of the earliest known written languages, c. 2400 BCE), there are inscriptions that contain insults and crude language. Ancient Egyptian, Greek, and Roman texts include examples of vulgar or profane language. Roman graffiti in Pompeii is famously full of crude jokes, insults, and explicit language. 

So, using “bad language” is nothing new. But social researchers, and our own sense of what’s happening, tell us the use of rude and crude language is increasing in American culture.

“Society norms towards profanity (sometimes referred to as vulgar, foul, or “street” language) have changed significantly since the initial audience shock of hearing Clark Gable say, “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn” in the 1939 film, Gone with the Wind.”

Profanity in all its taboo-breaking rebellion has now gone mainstream. And certainly, far worse than the standard “Four-letter” words, bad language now publicly features vulgarity, obscenity, scatological terms, and religious references to Jesus, Mary, and maybe the most-often used, “Oh my God,” an all-purpose phrase for shock, anger, happiness, startle reflex, or excitement. 

And lazy language has become one of the “acceptable sins” in the Church. Christian people can be heard using the B-word, the S-word, and the A-word, along with a host of other crudities.  

Years ago, men, especially around women, would attempt to mask verbal missteps with silly statements like, “Pardon my French.” I even heard that on Johnny Carson, but I don’t hear it anymore.  

But I have heard Christians using what we used to call “bad language” on the golf course and at fancy dinners, or from the podium no less. I’ve heard it at church events, professional settings, and in restaurants and coffee cafes.   

And please help me understand why some Christians, particularly from the South—sorry Southerners, but I've heard it too often—think it's OK to say "Lordy," "Oh God," "Oh my God," “Oh my Lord,” even "Jesus"? Or in case you missed it: “Lordy, Lordy, Lordy”?  

One Southern friend of mine quite pointedly said “Jesus” when our mutual friend driving the car slammed the brakes at an intersection. I turned and said, “How can you say that?” His answer, “It was like a prayer.” Really? Maybe Grandma’s washing our mouth out with soap wasn’t such a bad idea.   

I've challenged a couple of others along the way, and they say they "didn't mean it that way”; it’s just cultural. But sorry, I can't buy this. They use the words just like everyone else.  

I’ve done a lot of media interviews. What I get in public settings never surprises me. But what I sometimes get in Christian radio and television settings still surprises me. I was talking to a Christian radio interviewer when he used God’s name in vain live on air. 

Meanwhile, the Apostle Paul told us to avoid “obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place” and said, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths” (Ephesians 5:4; 4:29). Certainly, the Scripture says we should never use God’s name in vain, swearing or otherwise (Exodus 20:7; Matthew 5:34-37).  

Social research and the experience of adults working with children indicate children are swearing more today than children swore in days gone by. “Cussing” is now an everyday, nearly every conversation experience, common to adolescents in all demographic subgroups. 

And the intensity of children’s cussing also seems to be ramping up. “Hells” and “damns” are mundane. Elementary school children now casually and regularly use words far beyond entry-level profanity, words once voiced only by men—invective, graphic sexual imagery, scatological verbiage, expletives.       

I understand why immature kids on social media input terms like OMG, meaning “Oh my God,” but I don’t understand when I see this abbreviation used in adult Christian blogs, texts, tweets, or social media. Does an abbreviation make the reference more palatable? That logic is lost on me.

Periodically, when I was a university president, I attended conferences for presidents and other upper-level academic administrators, usually held in nice hotels in other states. What never ceased to amaze me, and I witnessed it many, many times, is that the persons who used the most profanity were, sorry to say this, Catholic college and university presidents, mostly nuns but a few priests too. They even regularly used God’s name, not as prayers but as coarse, colorful emphasis that, I guess, supposedly made their comment more forceful. But how do you work for years to become a nun, then use God’s name as a curse word? I don’t get it.

A few years ago, I joined an all-male foursome playing the famed Pebble Beach golf course in California. Thinking it would please us and result in larger tips, halfway down the first fairway one of our caddies began telling really raw sex jokes. He continued onto the second green until one of our foursome pointed to me and said, “He’s a preacher.” Well, though I enjoy speaking periodically I’m not a preacher in the sense implied. But in the minds of the caddies, I apparently became the resident holy man. Because for the remaining sixteen holes I was called “Preacher,” and the caddies never told another off-color joke.       

On a personal level I took language seriously years ago. It first hit me as a senior in college standing in front of an 8th grade class as a student teacher. I didn’t use harsh four-letter words or cursing, but I caught myself saying "Heck" and that was it. No more. That very day, I began to weed what some have called surrogate swear words out of my vocabulary because I wanted to model something else to students. This doesn’t make me holier-than-thou, but I’m glad I did it. There are too many good words in the English language to stoop to dumbed down pop culture. 

Since then, I’ve heard Christians use other substitute coarse language, saying "Frickin" or "Freaking” or “Friggin.” They use these words in similar contexts as the real thing, even while cinema employs them as placeholders for the thus-far, X-rated term. Who are we fooling? 

We all learned in 5th grade science class that water seeks its own level. Later in life we learned that people seek their own level too. With language, it can mean we pursue the lowest common denominator of communication until we sink into a verbal swamp, often just to fit into a peer group.     

Cultural observation suggests that swearing in American culture has generally increased over the past several decades.

·      Movies and TV shows have gradually pushed the boundaries on profanity, a clear uptick in swearing.

·      Music, particularly in genres like hip-hop, punk, and rock, often includes explicit language—and while that's not new, it’s more mainstream now.

·      Streaming services (e.g., Netflix, HBO) have fewer content restrictions than network TV, allowing more profanity without censorship. “Netflix even has a series called The History of Swearing that premiered in 2021.”

·      The internet and social media have normalized more casual, explicit, and unfiltered language. 

·      Society is more tolerant of informal or taboo language, especially in non-professional settings.

To be clear, using profanity is not what sends a person to hell and keeps them out of heaven. Only rejection of the redemptive work of Jesus Christ will do that.

But I suggest to you that in a culture given to coarseness, “not swearing” or “not using crude language” is one of the most powerful testimonies of faith available to us.

Our speech literally fills the air around us. If we speak differently, people will quickly recognize it.

Stating the obvious, language communicates. It speaks volumes about who we are and what we believe.      

If you want to speak French, learn the real thing. 

Well, we’ll see you again soon. This podcast is about Discerning What Is Best. If you find this thought-provoking and helpful, follow us on your favorite podcast platform. Download an episode for your friends. For more Christian commentary, check my website, r-e-x-m as in Martin, that’s rexmrogers.com. Or check my YouTube channel @DrRexRogers for more podcasts and video.

And remember, it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm.

© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2025     

*This podcast blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact me or read more commentary on current issues and events at www.rexmrogers.com/ or my YouTube channel @DrRexRogers, or connect with me at www.linkedin.com/in/rexmrogers or https://x.com/RexMRogers.