Don't Blaspheme

A funny thing has happened to me since I became a minister; people started apologizing to me for their use of profanity.  Usually it's the expected culprits, you know the ones that get a PG-13 or an R rating if they're in a movie.  The thing is that none of those are actually the ones that bother me.  The ones I really wish people would stop dropping are the uses of the Lord's name in vain, and I'm not actually talking about God, as in OMG.  I'm talking about the use of my Lord's name as in Jesus Christ, sometimes adding an H as a middle initial.
The thing is, I'm not really able to parse whether or not someone is saying, "Oh my God," or "Oh my god," because spoken language usually doesn't give us much info about capitalization.  On top of that, all of our names for the Creator God, are probably imperfect human constructions anyway.  When Moses asks the name of God at the burning bush, the voice gives him an interesting answer to say the least, it's more of an action word, "I AM," is how it gets spoken in English.
Jesus on the other hand, is a pretty specific name, especially if you're not talking about a Mexican guy with a different pronunciation (Hay-zus).  The anglicized name of Christ, just doesn't get used a lot in reference to anyone but the Nazarene.  Technically, his name was Yeshua, which has more in common with the modern Joshua, and his name in Greek was Iesous, because Greek doesn't have a letter J, while we're talking about technicality, let's do that regarding the third commandment:

You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name. -Exodus 20: 7

It is my educated opinion that we ought to apply that much more broadly than simply to apply to people swearing.  I suspect that the author of these rules would find those who use the Name of God to justify their bigotry, hatred and violence to be far more blasphemous than people who yell a throaty g-dammit after they stub their toe.  Using the name of the Lord is crude, rude and a bad habit, using God to justify your nastiness towards others is what becomes blasphemy.
Every so often, I find it useful to read a critique of faith written by an atheist.  I used to enjoy the late Christopher Hitchens, before he got every bit as dogmatic about his atheism as the most doctrinaire scholastic of the church.  The thing I have come to realize about these critiques though is that the god they are railing against has nothing to do with the God I believe in.  You will often catch them admiring Christ as a person while denying that his divinity is even possible.  It becomes quickly apparent that what they dislike are in fact the many and varied ways in which the human practitioners of faith (any faith really) violate the third commandment and blaspheme the name of the God of love and grace.
I will admit that it makes little sense, in the postmodern age of technology and de-mythology, to adhere to a religion that does not give you a solid example of what it looks like to follow God.  The rules alone are not enough, they just tell you what to avoid, not how to live.  The rules give you commandments and a declaration of God's holiness, but they do not get into the dust and dirt of human existence.  I think you see where I'm going with this; Jesus gives us that example and that presence, and his teachings are actually fairly simple.  "Love God, Love Each Other."  Not easy to follow, but clear and measurable.
People usually find it necessary to hedge on one or the other of those simple rules though.
One side exalts the holiness and purity of God, protecting the sanctity of their selected temples and idols.  But they do this too often at the expense of caring for one another and for the "least of these."
The other side exalts the ministry of compassion, honestly desiring to tear down the curtain in the temple. From a humanist perspective this approach would appear to be on your "side."
The problem with both approaches is essentially one of balance, which is at best a tenuous line to walk. You will find "conservatives" who insist that they work for justice and show compassion to the poor, and maybe they do.  You will also find "liberals" who want to insist that their faith is "biblical," and maybe it is.
The sin that neither side is immune to is the cooption of God in the fight against their enemies, and there is where the blasphemy train really gets rolling.
There are many examples of Jesus teaching his disciples and people in general that this is not the Way.  Example: Luke 9: 49-50 about another person casting out demons in Jesus' name, even though he wasn't one of the disciples.  Example: John 8: 1-11, "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone."  Stop me before I start proof texting uncontrollably.  The thing is though, you can actually go through the Gospels and apply this particular lens to things and find that it's pretty much all over the place, presented in many varied and nuanced forms, because "love your enemies," is important, counterintuitive, and freaking difficult, therefore we are challenged to do it over and over again. To ignore that imperative is perhaps the greatest blasphemy of all.