When do you capitalize heaven and hell

The writer is clearly talking about a specific place. He's even giving directions. Ambiguous: Jesus said that people who do xyz will go to hell.

Yitzchak Yitzchak 1, 6 6 silver badges 12 12 bronze badges. When describing locations, I would generally base capitalization on whether an article would be necessary when using any other noun in a similar setting but is absent. One could think about a kind of "store", but one wouldn't go to "store"--one would go to "the store", or to "Bailey's".

When using "go to" metaphorically, articles are often not necessary even with common nouns e. In the latter situation, I would posit that Jesus was speaking geographically, which would imply capitalization; if one interprets his meaning metaphorically, then no caps. Ed Guiness Ed Guiness 8, 1 1 gold badge 37 37 silver badges 48 48 bronze badges.

Kelly Hess Kelly Hess 4, 18 18 silver badges 25 25 bronze badges. Fictional or not, there are hundreds of religions each with a different proposition of heaven and hell.

This alone makes them common nouns, and thus not capitalised. When they're used in that sense, I agree - no caps. Just when they refer to the the places named by Christian, Muslim, and Jewish religions. I'm no theologian, but I don't believe they are necessarily considered physical "places" even by the so-called major religions you've mentioned.

How could they be physical if it is supposedly your eternal soul, rather than your physical body that ends up there? Some consider that "states of mind" is a bit nearer the mark. Mind you, we use the word "places" and the word "where" rather loosely in any case If your religion tells you to capitalize a certain word or not to , then there's no need to consult the opinion of mortals!

So, I guess that's the western Christian answer. Kosmonaut - Unless the devotee has a cosmic hotline direct to their deity then they have only the opinion of mortals to rely upon, and there are so many to choose from..

Show 9 more comments. Featured on Meta. Now live: A fully responsive profile. However, if god or goddess is not part of a name, the words are not capitalised:. But does the same apply if we are talking about one person? Say the convent is run by Sister Jones. The solution to this problem is that often as with the whole walking on water thing there is one rule for Jesus and another for the rest of us.

Or there used to be, at least. However, this is now largely considered old-fashioned. This helps ensure consistency of punctuation. Nevertheless, it is important to check whether your client is following a particular style guide. And if not, consistency, as always, is the key. How about the word paradise? Should it be capitalized regardless of its placement in the sentence? Hi, Pinky. Some style guides might recommend otherwise e. Your email address will not be published.

But when referring to the "heaven about us" or the "heavens" as the atmosphere, it should not. When using the term "hell" as a slang - "hell if I know," - or curse, it should not be capitalized. Hi, Mary. We do mention that some people prefer to capitalize "Heaven" and "Hell" when referring to the Christian afterlife, and it's fine if you prefer to do so. However, it's not necessary according to most style guides e.

And, as we point out in the post, not even all Bibles capitalize these terms! Thus, it would be wrong to say they need to be capitalized as standard. Scott Moore. What if I am using the term "Christian" as an adjective, as in "John did it because of his Christian values?

Hi, Scott. Gigi Galliani. When using reverential capitalization, should adjectives and nouns in reference to God follow suit? Ex: "Christ is the only and ultimate judge".

Hi, Gigi. To some extent it is a matter of personal preference assuming you're not using a specific style guide , but it would be unusual to capitalize adjectives or other modifiers. What about terms like "Passion" referring to the passion of Christ leading up to his crucifixion , or "Ascension"? Would these be capitalized in an MLA formatted paper? Hi, Jeremy. I don't believe that MLA style has any guidelines on the capitalization of religious terms in particular.

I would suggest capitalizing them for clarity if necessary e. And they are functioning as proper nouns i. But it is ultimately a matter of preference as long as you pick a clear and consistent style of capitalization.

Melody Banks. Hi, Melody. This would fall under the general category of reverential capitalization, but there are no universal rules for this. Many people capitalize the "Holy" in terms like "the Holy Spirit" and "the Holy Bible," and while "Holy God" seems less common, this is ultimately a matter of preference unless you or your organisation has a style guide you're following, in which case it might have guidelines on capitalization you can use.

What about the word scripture? I thought that if you say the Scriptures, it will be capitalized, but what about "through the encouragement of scripture" is scripture capitalized in the latter case? Hi, Kellie. As with most cases of reverential capitalization, this is largely a matter of preference.

Most writers would capitalize "Scripture" if they were using it as a synonym for "Bible" e. But it isn't necessary to capitalize it in other cases, and doing so might look slightly old-fashioned to some readers. I looked up the word Requiem in the Webster dictionary and it was capitalized. I was surprised. From my understanding of capitalizing of religious words, the keep it simple, if they refer to or are used in a religious context or are proper religious nouns, one would capitalize.

Requiem is not strictly a religious word. Your thoughts? Mozart's Requiem in D minor , and it would be standard to capitalize it in those cases. Can you think of examples where it has a non-religious usage? Perhaps if you were using it to refer to a piece of music used to honor the dead in a non-Christian context? Or even if referring to musical compositions in general rather than one particular piece?

There's room for flexibility here at least, as long as you use a consistent style of capitalization for similar usages of the word. Joanna Jablonska. When writing about religious sisters and referring to them indirectly, should 'sisters' be written with an upper or lower case letter?

Obviously, if I were referring to a particular order of nuns, I would write: "The Ursuline Sisters", for instance, but if I was saying: "The sisters then went into the chapel", I'm suddenly not sure if it should be a capital 's' or not. I've just translated a story into English.

The story also refers to a number of sisters from the same family , so I also want to distinguish between birth sisters and fellow nuns. As a Catholic, I should know, but am suddenly unsure which to use.

Hi, Joanna. The conventional rule would be only to capitalize "Sister" when it functions as part of a proper noun e. There is some room for flexibility, though, in a creative writing context. Thus, if you're worried about the ambiguity of "sister" in parts of the story and it isn't clear which you mean from the context, it might make sense to capitalize "Sister" and "Sisters" when referring to nuns.

The key will be making sure to apply the capitalization consistently. Jeannie Taljard. In the sentence "We christened her Lucy", should "christened" be capitalized? Hi, Jeannie. Please tell me is this is the proper way to write this sentence: Follower of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Hi, Sheri. That isn't a full sentence it looks like an appositive phrase , but if you're referring to the capitalization in particular, we can only point you to the advice in this post: you would not need to capitalize words like "Lord" and "Savior" in most contexts, and if you're using a specific style guide it is worth checking for advice on reverential capitalization, but otherwise it's a matter of choice. If you want to capitalize "Lord" and "Savior" to clarify that they refer to Jesus, feel free, but since you name Jesus explicitly as well it would still be clear without the non-standard capitals.

Should confirmation be capitalised such as "there was a confirmation service"? Hi, Alain. Should Law of Moses or Mosaic Law be capitalized as such? Or would law of Moses and Mosaic law be better? Hi, Riley. There is room for variation here. To my mind, they are proper nouns i. And if you follow that conclusion, "Law of Moses" and "Mosaic Law" would be most appropriate.