Nontheism or non-theism is a range of both religious and nonreligious attitudes characterized by the absence of espoused belief in the

existence of god The existence of God (or more generally, the existence of deities) is a subject of debate in theology, philosophy of religion and popular culture. A wide variety of arguments for and against the existence of God or deities can be categorize ...

gods A deity or god is a supernatural being who is considered divine or sacred. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines deity as a god or goddess, or anything revered as divine. C. Scott Littleton defines a deity as "a being with powers greater ...

. Nontheism has generally been used to describe apathy or silence towards the subject of God and differs from atheism. Nontheism does not necessarily describe atheism or disbelief in God; it has been used as an

umbrella term In linguistics, semantics, general semantics, and ontologies, hyponymy () is a semantic relation between a hyponym denoting a subtype and a hypernym or hyperonym (sometimes called umbrella term or blanket term) denoting a supertype. In other wor ...

for summarizing various distinct and even mutually exclusive positions, such as agnosticism,

ignosticism Ignosticism or igtheism is the idea that the question of the existence of God is meaningless because the word "God" has no coherent and unambiguous definition. Terminology The term ''ignosticism'' was coined in 1964 by Sherwin Wine, a rabbi and ...

ietsism Ietsism ( nl, ietsisme () – "somethingism") is an unspecified belief in an undetermined transcendent reality. It is a Dutch term for a range of beliefs held by people who, on the one hand, inwardly suspect – or indeed believe – ...

skepticism Skepticism, also spelled scepticism, is a questioning attitude or doubt toward knowledge claims that are seen as mere belief or dogma. For example, if a person is skeptical about claims made by their government about an ongoing war then the p ...

pantheism Pantheism is the belief that reality, the universe and the cosmos are identical with divinity and a supreme supernatural being or entity, pointing to the universe as being an immanent creator deity still expanding and creating, which has ...

pandeism Pandeism (or pan-deism), is a theological doctrine that combines aspects of pantheism with aspects of deism. Unlike classical deism, which holds that God does not interfere with the universe after its creation, pandeism holds that a creator d ...

transtheism Transtheism refers to a system of thought or religious philosophy that is neither theistic nor atheistic, but is beyond them. The word was coined by either theologian Paul Tillich or Indologist Heinrich Zimmer.In published writings, the term app ...

, atheism, strong or positive atheism, implicit atheism, and

apatheism Apatheism (; a portmanteau of ''apathy'' and ''theism'') is the attitude of apathy towards the existence or non-existence of God(s). It is more of an attitude rather than a belief, claim, or belief system. The term was coined by Robert Nash, theo ...

. It is in use in the fields of

Christian apologetics Christian apologetics ( grc, ἀπολογία, "verbal defense, speech in defense") is a branch of Christian theology that defends Christianity. Christian apologetics has taken many forms over the centuries, starting with Paul the Apostle in ...

and general

liberal theology Religious liberalism is a conception of religion (or of a particular religion) which emphasizes personal and group liberty and rationality. It is an attitude towards one's own religion (as opposed to criticism of religion from a secular position ...

. An early usage of the hyphenated ''non-theism'' was by

George Holyoake George Jacob Holyoake (13 April 1817 – 22 January 1906) was an English secularist, co-operator and newspaper editor. He coined the terms secularism in 1851 and " jingoism" in 1878. He edited a secularist paper, the ''Reasoner'', from 1846 to J ...

in 1852. Within the scope of nontheistic agnosticism, philosopher Anthony Kenny distinguishes between agnostics who find the claim "God exists" uncertain and theological noncognitivists who consider all discussion of God to be meaningless. Some agnostics, however, are not nontheists but rather agnostic theists. Other related philosophical opinions about the existence of deities are ignosticism and skepticism. Because of the various definitions of the term ''

God In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...

'', a person could be an atheist in terms of certain conceptions of gods, while remaining agnostic in terms of others.

Origin and definition

The ''

Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a co ...

'' (2007) does not have an entry for ''nontheism'' or ''non-theism'', but it does have an entry for ''non-theist'', defined as "A person who is not a theist", and an entry for the adjectival ''non-theistic''. An early usage of the hyphenated ''non-theism'' is by

in 1852, who introduces it because: This passage is cited by James Buchanan in his 1857 ''Modern Atheism under its forms of Pantheism, Materialism, Secularism, Development, and Natural Laws'', who however goes on to state: Spelling without hyphen sees scattered use in the later 20th century, following

Harvey Cox Harvey Gallagher Cox Jr. (born May 19, 1929) is an American theologian who served as the Hollis Professor of Divinity at Harvard Divinity School, until his retirement in October 2009. Cox's research and teaching focus on theological developments in ...

's 1966 ''Secular City'': "Thus the hidden God or

deus absconditus The hidden God (Latin: ''Deus absconditus'') refers to the Christian idea of the fundamental unknowability of the essence of God. The name comes from the Bible, specifically from the book of Isaiah: "Indeed, you are a hidden God, you God of Israel, ...

of biblical theology may be mistaken for the no-god-at-all of nontheism." Usage increased in the 1990s in contexts where association with the terms ''atheism'' or ''

antitheism Antitheism, also spelled anti-theism, is the philosophical position that theism should be opposed. The term has had a range of applications. In secular contexts, it typically refers to direct opposition to the belief in any deity. Etymology T ...

'' was unwanted. The 1998 ''Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics'' states, "In the strict sense, all forms of nontheisms are Naturalism (philosophy), naturalistic, including atheism,

, deism, and agnosticism." Pema Chödrön uses the term in the context of Buddhism:

Nontheistic religions

Nontheistic traditions of thought have played roles in Nontheistic religions#Buddhism, Buddhism, Nontheistic religions#Christianity, Christianity, Nontheistic religions#Hinduism, Hinduism,Catherine Robinson, ''Interpretations of the Bhagavad-Gītā and Images of the Hindu Tradition: The Song of the Lord.'' Routledge Press, 1992, page 51. History of atheism#Jainism, Jainism, Taoism, Creativity (religion), Creativity, Dudeism, Raëlism, Humanistic Judaism, Satanism#Rationalistic Satanism, Laveyan Satanism, The Satanic Temple, Unitarian Universalism, and Ethical culture.

References

External links

*
Nontheism.org
{{Theology Nontheism, Irreligion

Origin and definition

Nontheistic religions

See also

References

External links