Depends on what you mean by swearing. Or cussin’. Or potty-mouth.
Blasphemy. Taking the Lord’s Name in vain is actually prohibited by a Commandment. So that is definitely sinful. I also think it depends on context: if one shouts out the Name of the Lord, is it in supplication, invocation, grief, or rage?
For the following: I am not a theologian, and I don’t even play one on TV. So, YMMV on the following opinions:
Cursing. Invoking a curse, or damnation, on someone. I’d say that saying “D*** you” (or anyone else), or being even more specific, “D*** you to HE(double-hockey-sticks)” would also be sinful, as at the least an offence against charity, or possibly even a violation of the First Commandment (only God can condemn, and you put yourself in God’s place when you condemn like that). Plus, since being in Hell is the worst possible thing that can happen to a person, and you are willing that on someone, that’s worse than wishing them dead or murdering them in your heart. Using it as an adjective (“D*** flashlight won’t work,” or general “D*** it!”) *may *cause scandal, but I think, meeehhhh…talk to your confessor.
Profanity. From Latin *profanus *“unholy, not consecrated,” from
pro fano “not admitted into the temple (with the initiates),” literally “out in front of the temple”. The verb
to profane from Latin verb *profanare *“to desecrate, render unholy, violate”. So I would include in this category using holy words as expletives. A lot of this occurs in French-Canadian swearing, where the expressions of choice profane the Tabernacle, the Host, and the Chalice. I think expressions such as these are sinful as they are irreverent, disrespectful, and definitely scandalous. OTOH, yelling “Kneeler!” or “Aspergillum!” might not have the same level of profanity: there may not be any real prohibition against, say, taking Church Architecture in vain.
Now that insulting the Sacred is out of the way, we are left with the secular language offences, or
Vulgarity, which, I believe, actually make up most of the “7 words”. It’s actually a social-class rather than religious thing: certain words are Just Not Said in polite company. The worst offender is the “F-bomb” – while it has no religious connotation at first blush
I believe that to degrade the marriage act with such contempt, it’s sort of “verbal fornication” if you get my drift. Also, some people use it as a general expletive, devoid of any sexual reference, used only for effect (or possibly out of habit and limited vocabulary). It shows disrespect, but its sinfulness you’d have to discuss with your confessor.
I also think the same thing with regard to vulgar terms for body parts, especially the sex organs, and doubly so when said words are used to refer to a person as a whole (definite offence against charity).
The “S-word” and other pieces of “potty-language” are strictly vulgar, and I believe do not carry any weight of sin, altho’ I would not yell them out in Church. It was a perfectly cromulent word in Old English before the Normans invaded and decided that all those words for bodily functions etc were low-class and such things would only be discussable in polite society by using their noble Latin-derived French equivalents (which all end in -ate). Curiously enough, the P-word actually appears in an early Bible translation in the Old Testament.
On the other hand, use of such words can scandalize some people, so they really should be avoided. On the third hand, some words which are fine on this side of the pond still have a certain power on t’other (Britons, read no further!)
Two words for the posterior, one rhyming with “rum” and one with “Danny”, while being rather innocent over here, apparently might scandalize those who speak the Queen’s English, or at the very least raise eyebrows in some and cause sniggering in others.
Have I mentioned etymology is fun?
TL;DR:
- Blasphemy = sin
- cursing (people) = sin, cursing (objects) = possible scandal
- profanity = most likely sin
- vulgarity = possible scandal
- Conclusion = use better vocabulary.
