Atheism Stack Exchange Archive

The difference between a Atheist, a Agnostic, a Deist and a Theist?

• posted by: One Trick Pony on 2011-02-01
• tagged: existence-of-god, definition-of-atheism
• score: 1

How I see it:

Atheist

• rejects religious Gods because their attributes defy logic/nature
• admits the possibility of a creator, intelligent or not (other than religious Gods)

Agnostic

• admits the possibility of religious Gods, and/or the possibility of a (intelligent) creator

Deist:

• rejects the possibility of religious Gods (don’t know why :)
• believes in the existence of a intelligent creator (other than religious Gods)

Theist:

• believes in the existence of a religious God
  
  

Is this correct? Some Christian friends of mine are arguing that I’m a agnostic or deist because I accept the possibility of a creator. Am I?

And are theists any different from deists?

Answer 2559

• posted by: John Bode on 2011-02-01
• score: 5

Some quibbles:

• The most inclusive definition of an atheist is someone who doesn’t believe in God (or gods), full stop. Some atheists reject gods because their attribute supposedly defy logic and/or nature, but it’s not true of all atheists. My lack of belief simply stems from what I see as an absence of evidence for God. I don’t reject God, I just don’t think God’s real. There’s a difference.

• An agnostic holds the opinion that the nature of God (or gods), including the question of His (or their) existence, is unknowable. Note that the questions of knowledge and belief are largely orthogonal; you can be an agnostic and an atheist, or an agnostic and a theist.

• A deist believes that there is a creator God, but is usually not religious as we would normally define the term. Deists do not rely on revealed wisdom as from the Bible or some other holy work, but rather see the “orderliness” of the natural world as evidence for God. A deist does not normally subscribe to the idea of miracles, and doesn’t believe that God actively intervenes in the lives of humans.

• And finally, a theist believes in a creator God who does actively intervene in our lives, or performs miracles (such as making the sun stand still for a day). Their belief is based in revealed wisdom, as from the Bible or some other holy work.

Answer 2558

• posted by: Lauren Ipsum on 2011-02-01
• score: 1

Deism is a particular branch of theism. Deists are theists in that they believe in a god (a deity), but most theists belong to a religion which teaches that the deity in question is actively involved in our lives. Deists don’t think this.

Answer 2562

• posted by: Proteus on 2011-02-01
• score: 1

While individuals often have different ideas about the labels they choose, there are standard definitions for everything you’ve talked about. Also, it seems like you think the terms you’ve selected are a continuum of belief – that’s a common misconception.

First, atheism and theism are both compatible with either gnosticism or agnosticism. The former are about belief, and the latter are about claims to knowledge. Therefore:

• An Atheist is a person who lacks belief in gods. They may be an agnostic atheist (“I can’t know, but I believe there is no god”) or a gnostic atheist (“I know there is no god”).
• A Theist is a person who believes in one ore more gods. They also may be agnostic (“I can’t know, but I believe there is a god”) or gnostic (“I know there is a god”).

A deist is a specific sort of theist; specifically, one who believes in a god that does not intervene in the current affairs of the universe. Deists are typically (but not always) non-religious, as they tend to find it silly to ritualize or worship a disinterested god.

I’ve over-simplified each of these positions a bit, since there are a large range of specific opinions within each – it would take several theses to treat them all fairly.

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