Nontheism

Nontheism (or non-theism), broadly conceived, is the absence of belief in both the existence and non-existence of a deity (or deities, or other numinous phenomena). The word is often employed as a blanket term for all belief systems that are not theistic, including atheism (both strong and weak) and agnosticism, as well as certain Eastern religions like Confucianism, Taoism, and Zen Buddhism. This usage is somewhat misleading, however.

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Used in the strict sense, as by those who self-identify as nontheists, the term describes a particular worldview for which the question of divinity is regarded as irrelevant and meaningless. When used in this sense, nontheism is often confused with agnosticism, although there is a distinct difference. An agnostic, by definition, views the question of God's existence to be necessarily unanswerable, but not necessarily irrelevant. A nontheist, by definition, views the question to be necessarily irrelevant, but not necessarily unanswerable. Thus, it is possible that an agnostic could consider the nature of God to be a fact of tremendous importance. It is also possible that he could consider the question unimportant. Provided that he remains convinced that the existence of God is unknowable, he remains an agnostic. Likewise, a nontheist may or may not believe the existence of God to be inherently unknowable; this has no bearing on his status as a nontheist. It is possible that one individual could be both an agnostic and a nontheist; indeed, most nontheists are agnostics, and vice versa.

Deity: :This article is about deities or gods from a non-monotheistic perspective. See God for information about the monotheistic entity....

Deities: REDIRECT Deity...

Numinous: Numinous (, from the Classical Latin numen) is an English adjective describing the power or presence of a divinity. The word was popularised in the early twentieth century by the German theologian Rudolf Otto in his influential book Das Heilige (1917; translated into English as The Idea of the Holy,...