semantics, religion, theismI’m worried about whether it’s accurate to call myself a “atheist”. One reason is that I’m unsure whether you can be a theist, but still not be religious. Would that make sense?
Theism doesn’t equal religion. So yes, you can be a theist and not be religious. In fact, you can even be religious (go to church, say prayers, follow religious behavior rules) and be an atheist. People do that all the time.
A theist is someone who believes in the existence of one or more gods. An atheist is someone who does not have that belief.
You can believe there’s a god and not belong to any formal or organized worship, or follow any rules allegedly laid down by your god, and you’re still a theist. You can go to shul every Shabbat to make your mother happy, hold seders, not operate any machinery on a Saturday, and never eat pork, and if you don’t believe there’s a god (or you believe there’s no god), then you’re an atheist.
The test to know whether you're an atheist is, "Do you believe in god?" If you answer by the positive you're not an atheist, you're a theist. All that's left to define is which kind of theist.
This second part is trickier because, without your definition of religion, it's harder to tell. If by "not having a religion" you mean that you're a theist who believes in the existence of a god but do not believe that this god intervenes with the universe, then you're a deist.
The term "theist" is typically used in contraposition to atheism. In and of itself, it bears less meaning than other categories like Deism/Deist. Although this site typically uses theist, its usage is frequently in the form of ~[atheist] ("not atheist"). It is functional in this context, but the connotation among so-called theists would be confusing.
For defining a person who simply believes in the general proposition there is something that somehow comports with the shared concept of [God/gods], but is not religious, I might recommend use of the term Deist instead.
Many of America's founding fathers were Deist and it was a respectable "faith" of sorts. It was generally not religious; as in there was no particular shared identity with other Deists, and no particular shared rituals and activities, and no particular shared credos (aside from believing generally the proposition that [God/gods] exist).
If you believe in god but not in religion then i think you are a Deist in a away. Check this wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deism
You can be spiritual etc and be an atheist but you can’t believe in a god or gods though. Deists are not religious but believe in a god most i guess in a non-interactive one.
Though I’d bring up the Epicurus argument into play with a deist.
Yes, you could believe in something supernatural, call it god or whatever you want, but not be a member of an organized religion and not be acting in any way that could be defined as religious. Then you would be a theist who isn’t religious. But that wouldn’t make you an atheist. Atheism is non-belief, no membership required, and membership in something doesn’t affect the definition.
Your question made me think of this speech by Daniel Dennet about his work on interviewing clergy that became atheists but stayed in their religious positions. It is done in a very respectful manner and tells us a lot about what is going on inside religion today.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_9w8JougLQ&feature=player_embedded
If you believe that no god exists then you are an atheist.
If you believe in (at least) one god then you are a theist. If you also believe in that god’s “representatives on Earth” (such as priests, rabbis, shamen, …) then you are religious.
A quote from one of my workmates about twenty years ago: “I don’t believe in God but I’m still a Christian.”
He had fallen for the religious propaganda which says that only believers can be good, and atheists are immoral sinners.
Well he was a decent, law-abiding citizen and therefore he must be a Christian (even if he didn’t believe in god).
[Even the religious spin doctors would have been surprised to learn how well they had got their message across.]
I don’t call myself atheist, because for me this term means someone who hates religion(most atheist do).
Its like feminism was originally about equality between men and women, but now its about women being better than men. There is new term equalizm that has replaced the orginal feminism.
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