GetWiki

{{short description|Opposition to theism, and usually to religion}}{{See also|Antireligion|Irreligion}}{{Irreligion sidebar|atheism}}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

The word antitheism (or hyphenated anti-theism) has been recorded in English since 1788. The etymological roots of the word are the Greek (wikt:ἀντί|anti) and (wikt:θεός#Ancient Greek|theos).The Oxford English Dictionary defines antitheist as “One opposed to belief in the existence of a god”. The earliest citation given for this meaning dates from 1833. The term was likely coined by Pierre-Joseph Proudhon.BOOK,books.google.com/books?id=mPYrEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22coined%22+%22anti-theism%22+%22proudhon%22&pg=PT281, The Problem of Atheism, 9780228009382, Noce, Augusto Del, 5 January 2022, McGill-Queen’s Press - MQUP,

Opposition to theism

Antitheism has been adopted as a label by those who regard theism as dangerous, destructive, or encouraging of harmful behavior. Christopher Hitchens (2001) wrote:

Opposition to the idea of God

Other definitions of antitheism include that of the French Catholic philosopher Jacques Maritain (1953), for whom it is “an active struggle against everything that reminds us of God”.The definition of Robert Flint (1877), Professor of Divinity at the University of Edinburgh was similar. Flint’s 1877 Baird Lecture was titled Anti-Theistic Theories. He used “antitheism” as a very general umbrella term for all opposition to his own form of theism, which he defined as {{clear}}Flint wrote However, Flint also acknowledged that antitheism is typically understood differently from how he defines it. In particular, he notes that it has been used as a subdivision of atheism, descriptive of the view that theism has been disproven, rather than as the more general term that Flint preferred. He rejected the alternative non-theistic

Other, similar terms

Opposition to the existence of a god or gods is frequently referred to as nontheism, or dystheism, or misotheism.

• Dystheism would actually mean “belief in a deity that is not benevolent”.
• Misotheism, strictly speaking, means “hatred of God”.

Examples of belief systems founded on the principle of opposition to the existence of a god or gods include some forms of Atheistic Satanism and maltheism.

Different definitions of “antitheism”

{{see also|Misotheism#Terminology}}Christopher New (1993) proposed an altered definition of the word antitheism as part of a thought experiment. He imagines what arguments for the existence of an evil god would look like, and writes New’s changed definition has reappeared in the work of W.A. Murphree.

See also

{{div col|colwidth=12em}}

• Antireligion
• League of Militant Atheists
• Materialism
• Naturalism (philosophy)
• Negative and positive atheism
• New Atheism
• Post-theism
• Secular humanism
• Scientism
• State atheism

{{div col end}}

References

{{reflist|25em|refs=WEB DICTIONARY , DICTIONARY , BOOK , WEB , See also Pseudopedia article Letters to a Young ContrarianBOOK, Maritain, J., Jacques Maritain JOURNAL DICTIONARY , }}

Sources

• WEB, Barker, Dan, 1993, Evangelistic atheism: Leading believers astray, Freethought Today,ffrf.org/fttoday/back/evangel.html, 2005-11-26, bot: unknown,ffrf.org/fttoday/back/evangel.html," title="web.archive.org/web/20051126021026ffrf.org/fttoday/back/evangel.html,">web.archive.org/web/20051126021026ffrf.org/fttoday/back/evangel.html, 2005-11-26,
• Browne, Janet (2002). The Power of Place, Volume 2 of the Biography of Charles Darwin. Alfred Knopf
• Hitchens, Christopher (2001). Letters to a Young Contrarian ({{ISBN|0-465-03032-7}}). New York: Basic Books.
• Maritain, Jacques (1953). The Range of Reason. London: Geoffrey Bles. www3.nd.edu/Departments/Maritain/etext/range.htm" title="web.archive.org/web/20130407012751www3.nd.edu/Departments/Maritain/etext/range.htm">Electronic Text
  • Note: Chapter 8, The Meaning of Contemporary Atheism (p. 103–117, Electronic Text) is reprinted from Review of Politics, Vol. 11 (3) July 1949, p. 267–280 www.nd.edu/Departments/Maritain/jm3303.htm" title="web.archive.org/web/20051113062053www.nd.edu/Departments/Maritain/jm3303.htm">Electronic Text. A version also appears The Listener, Vol. 43 No.1102, 9 March 1950. pp. 427–429,432.
• NEWS, Segal, David, Atheist evangelist, article, The Washington Post, 26 October 2006, C01,www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/25/AR2006102501998.html,
• Witham, Larry (2003). By Design, Encounter Books
• MAGAZINE, Wolff, Gary, November 2006, The new atheism: The church of the non-believers, reprint, Wired magazine,www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.11/atheism.html?pg=1&topic=atheism&topic_set=,
• Wright, N.T. (2005). The Last Word, Harper San Francisco

{{Theism}}{{irreligion}}{{Criticism of religion}}