On G-d

Judaism does not prohibit the writing of God’s name.  If it did our siddurim would not contain the Name.  What Judaism demands is that we treat the name of God with respect as it is holy.  That is why works containing the name of God are not brought into profane places, such as a toilet.

Anything containing the precious name of God must be accorded respect.  We do not place it on the ground or under a pile.  If the object containing God’s name becomes unusable we consign to it a genizah, repository for holy items that are no longer functional, for eventual burial.

Now the question of what is God’s name is more complex.  There are many names for God.  Every name we use for God has a different connotation to it.  Some are used to accentuate God’s mercy, others His kingship, some celebrate glory while others peace. Each of these principal names comes from Torah.  That is, they have their origins in the Hebrew Bible.  Religious folks take the idea of not employing God’s names to a further extent of not even saying them outside of prayer.  Yet, no religious Jew would shrink from saying “God” in their daily conversations.  For both these reasons the name “God” is not one of the holy names of God that must be written with a hyphen.

Yet (there is always is a yet, isn’t there?) one can argue that by hyphenating the name of “G-d” it teaches the underlying lesson of being vigilant in respecting the Holy One.

In all events, writing the Hebrew name of God applies only to things that endure.  So, for example, if you were to write God’s name in sand it would not be permanent or enduring.   There would be no wrongdoing by anyone’s account.  In this regard, technology is similar to sand.  There are many times when you will see “on line” the name of God written in its Hebrew, Torah form.  As this has no permanence, it does not exist in any physical form and according to all authorities may be both written and taken “off line.”