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Nontheism or non-theism is a range of both religious<ref name="Williams">Template:Cite journal</ref> and non-religious<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> attitudes characterized by the absence of espoused belief in the existence of God or gods. Nontheism has generally been used to describe apathy or silence towards the subject of gods and differs from atheism, or active disbelief in any gods. It has been used as an umbrella term for summarizing various distinct and even mutually exclusive positions, such as agnosticism, ignosticism, ietsism, skepticism, pantheism, pandeism, transtheism, atheism (strong or positive, implicit or explicit), and apatheism. It is in use in the fields of Christian apologetics and general liberal theology.
An early usage of the hyphenated term non-theism is attributed to George Holyoake 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.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Some agnostics, however, are not nontheists but rather agnostic theists.<ref name=Smith1979>Template:Cite book</ref> Other related philosophical opinions about the existence of deities are ignosticism and skepticism. Because of the various definitions of the term God, a person could be an atheist in terms of certain conceptions of gods, while remaining agnostic in terms of others.
Origin and definitionEdit
The Oxford English Dictionary (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.Template:Citation needed
An early usage of the hyphenated non-theism is by George Holyoake in 1852,<ref>"The Reasoner", New Series, No. VIII. 115</ref> who introduces it because: Template:Quote
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: Template:Quote
Spelling without hyphen sees scattered use in the later 20th century, following Harvey Cox's 1966 Secular City: "Thus the hidden God or deus absconditus of biblical theology may be mistaken for the no-god-at-all of nontheism."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Usage increased in the 1990s in contexts where association with the terms atheism or antitheism was unwanted. The 1998 Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics states, "In the strict sense, all forms of nontheisms are naturalistic, including atheism, pantheism, deism, and agnosticism."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Pema Chödrön uses the term in the context of Buddhism: Template:Quote
Nontheistic religionsEdit
{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} Nontheistic traditions of thought have played roles<ref name=Williams/> in Buddhism,<ref>B. Alan Wallace, Contemplative Science. Columbia University Press, 2007, pages 97-98.</ref> Christianity,<ref>Spong, John Shelby, A New Christianity for a New World: Why Traditional Faith Is Dying and How a New Faith Is Being Born, Template:ISBN</ref><ref>Tillich, Paul. (1951) Systematic Theology, p.205.</ref> including Nontheist Quakers, Hinduism,<ref name="Catherine Robinson 1992, page 51">Catherine Robinson, Interpretations of the Bhagavad-Gītā and Images of the Hindu Tradition: The Song of the Lord. Routledge Press, 1992, page 51.</ref> Jainism, Taoism, Creativity, Dudeism, Raëlism,<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Humanistic Judaism,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Laveyan Satanism, The Satanic Temple,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Unitarian Universalism,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and Ethical culture.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
See alsoEdit
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- Apatheism
- Conceptions of God
- Cultural Christian
- Ethical culture
- Falsifiability
- Freethought
- God in Jainism
- Ietsism
- Jainism and non-creationism
- Language, Truth, and Logic
- Mu (negative)
- Naturalistic pantheism
- Nontheist Quakers
- Nondualism
- Secular humanism
- Transcendentalism
- Transtheism
- Satanism (TST)
ReferencesEdit
External linksEdit
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