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Atheists or Christians - Can you define these terms without looking them up?
These terms are often tossed around in arguments and descriptions, and it appears that many people either are unaware of the actual meaning of the word or have their own particular interpretation of it, so I wanted to see how others define them.
Agnosticism
Antitheism
Atheism
Deism
Dystheism
Freethought
Gnosticism
Humanism
Ignosticism
Misotheism
Nontheism
Pandeism
Pantheism
Spiritualism
Theism
If it is a term you have never heard of, then by all means skip it.
9 Answers
- ?Lv 46 years agoFavorite Answer
Agnosticism: not claiming to know something or describing your certainty on the subject as something less than absolutely certain. Gnosticism is the same but in the positive form (by which I mean without 'a'/not, basically the inverse of agnosticism.
Antitheism: opposing theism, either having ideoligies that exactly defy theism or a body of thought that opposes theism. The latter generally want to do away with theism in society.
Atheism: not being theistic (or as some would put it, lacking theism). Not ascribing to a theistic religion and depending on one's gnosticism either being certain there are no gods (theos) or being more inclined to say there are no gods than otherwise (various gradients of agnosticism).
Deism: whilst I intuitively would've said it's the same as theism since I'd translate deus the same as I would with theos (Latin and Greek respectively), I remember having heard that gods in deism don't affect or change anything within the universe (after creation to whichever deistic religion that applies) whereas in theistic religions it can.
Humanism: centered around humans and moreover humanity. A body of thought that generally embraces human advances and morality.
Pandeism/pantheism: my intuition of the Greek language would say regarding all gods (believing in the existance of all gods. But I know from previous discussions (especially regarding Einstein) that it's mainly thinking that god is all that exists (the universe if you will, but that may be a bit ambiguous to those who ascribe to the multiverse theory). The type of god depends on deism vs theism (see above). I've also seen people use it to refer to believing in many gods instead of all, which, though understanable, would seem luinguistically incorrect, polytheism would seem more accurate for that use.
Theism: can be inferred from my description of deism and theism. A body of thought where one believes in a supreme being or specifically god (theos). Like atheism and deism, the certainty is dependent on one's gnosticism. Unlike deism, the gods described in theistic religions can (but don't have to be able to (in the broad sense)) intervene with the physical world.
I do wonder where the distinction between deism and theism came from though. Both Greek and Roman classical gods were known to intervene with the physical realm (which makes sense since a lot of Roman gods were derivatives of the Greeks). Perhaps the Greek gods did it more often or more noticably though, would make sense since I think they're more memorable (like the stories of Odysseos.
- ?Lv 56 years ago
I'll give it a shot.
Agnosticism - The belief that nothing can be known for certain.
Antitheism - Opposition to a belief in gods / religion.
Atheism - Lack of belief in gods.
Deism - I never remember this well. Generally, I remember it as a belief in a more ambiguous type of god than theism assumes.
Dystheism - Haven't seen this, but I would guess it's akin to dystopianism, so it would be a belief in a malevolent deity, perhaps?
Gnosticism - A claim to special knowledge of the divine.
Humanism - A set of positive beliefs about the nature of humanity apart from theism.
Nontheism - Lack of any belief about gods? or not concerned with that belief?
Pantheism - The Universe is god?
Spiritualism - A set of beliefs, etc., about spirituality.
Theism - Belief in a god.
- Anonymous6 years ago
Paul, writing under the influence of the spirit, tells us not to get into debate about words. It's a waste of time.
Make every moment count. How is this honoring to God? I don't see it.
- ?Lv 66 years ago
I am not going to type out their meanings but just admit that four of these terms are unfamiliar to me.
- PaulCypLv 76 years ago
Most of them, yes. But virtually none of them have any real meaning in my life, so why bother?
- Anonymous6 years ago
Almost all of them, yes.
- Byte-sLv 66 years ago
Either all things supernatural exist or they do not. There is no middle ground.
- Anonymous6 years ago
I am naither.