Nontheism

Nontheism or non-theism is a range of both religious^[1] and non-religious^[2] 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.^[3] Some agnostics, however, are not nontheists but rather agnostic theists.^[4] 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.

^ Williams, J. Paul; Horace L. Friess (1962). "The Nature of Religion". Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 2 (1). Blackwell Publishing: 3–17. doi:10.2307/1384088. JSTOR 1384088.
^ Starobin, Paul. "The Godless Rise As A Political Force". The National Journal. Retrieved 29 July 2010.
^ Kenny, Anthony (2006). "Worshipping an Unknown God". Ratio. 19 (4): 442. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9329.2006.00339.x.
^ Smith, George H (1979). Atheism: The Case Against God. Prometheus Books. pp. 10–11. ISBN 9780879751241. Properly considered, agnosticism is not a third alternative to theism and atheism because it is concerned with a different aspect of religious belief. Theism and atheism refer to the presence or absence of belief in a god; agnosticism refers to the impossibility of knowledge with regard to a god or supernatural being. The term "agnostic" does not, in itself, indicate whether or not one believes in a god. Agnosticism can be either theistic or atheistic.

[Williams-1] Williams, J. Paul; Horace L. Friess (1962). "The Nature of Religion". Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 2 (1). Blackwell Publishing: 3–17. doi:10.2307/1384088. JSTOR 1384088.

[2] Starobin, Paul. "The Godless Rise As A Political Force". The National Journal. Retrieved 29 July 2010.

[3] Kenny, Anthony (2006). "Worshipping an Unknown God". Ratio. 19 (4): 442. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9329.2006.00339.x.

[Smith1979-4] Smith, George H (1979). Atheism: The Case Against God. Prometheus Books. pp. 10–11. ISBN 9780879751241. Properly considered, agnosticism is not a third alternative to theism and atheism because it is concerned with a different aspect of religious belief. Theism and atheism refer to the presence or absence of belief in a god; agnosticism refers to the impossibility of knowledge with regard to a god or supernatural being. The term "agnostic" does not, in itself, indicate whether or not one believes in a god. Agnosticism can be either theistic or atheistic.

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