Understanding the capitalization of religious terms can be confusing, especially when referring to the name of a person or figure. The word “god” is particularly confusing because it can be capitalized or not depending on how it’s used.
In religious texts, the word god is usually written with the first letter “G” capitalized. This is because when we use the word to refer to one supreme being, the word becomes a proper noun. As you know, we capitalize the first letter in a proper noun as a general grammar rule. The same is true for the word “Father.”
If the word god is used to refer to a pagan god, you do not capitalize the word. This is because there are several pagan gods and in such an instance, the word becomes a common noun. This also applies to any polytheistic religion, such as Hinduism, since there are multiple gods to which you could be referring.
When the word god appears at the beginning of a sentence, we usually capitalize the first letter of the word regardless of whether it is used to refer to a proper or a common noun.
Want to learn more title capitalization rules? Try out our free title capitalization tool.
God as in the Savior is capitalized in anywhere in a sentence. Also people usually don’t.
Right?! And it’s the worst! I call it out every time like learn some respect!