Word for a person who has no opinion about whether god exists
Oversimplification of definitions:
atheist: Believes in no god.
agnostic: that the existence of God, of the divine or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable.
Is there a term for someone who just does not care, who has no opinion about the existence or inexistence of god?
They have simply not looked into it. They have not yet formed an opinion and because of this both terms atheist and agnostic don't seem to fit.
Question: What do I call someone who has not formulated an opinion about god? I'm looking for a word other than "atheist" or "agnostic".
single-word-requests
New contributor
add a comment |
Oversimplification of definitions:
atheist: Believes in no god.
agnostic: that the existence of God, of the divine or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable.
Is there a term for someone who just does not care, who has no opinion about the existence or inexistence of god?
They have simply not looked into it. They have not yet formed an opinion and because of this both terms atheist and agnostic don't seem to fit.
Question: What do I call someone who has not formulated an opinion about god? I'm looking for a word other than "atheist" or "agnostic".
single-word-requests
New contributor
2
Agnosticism is the view that the existence of God, of the divine or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable
– Stefan
6 hours ago
Adjusted my definition thank you.
– Tolure
6 hours ago
1
I always considered atheism to be a lack of belief in a god (or gods) rather than an active belief in non-existence.
– KillingTime
4 hours ago
Is there a word for not believing in magic?
– Mitch
3 hours ago
add a comment |
Oversimplification of definitions:
atheist: Believes in no god.
agnostic: that the existence of God, of the divine or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable.
Is there a term for someone who just does not care, who has no opinion about the existence or inexistence of god?
They have simply not looked into it. They have not yet formed an opinion and because of this both terms atheist and agnostic don't seem to fit.
Question: What do I call someone who has not formulated an opinion about god? I'm looking for a word other than "atheist" or "agnostic".
single-word-requests
New contributor
Oversimplification of definitions:
atheist: Believes in no god.
agnostic: that the existence of God, of the divine or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable.
Is there a term for someone who just does not care, who has no opinion about the existence or inexistence of god?
They have simply not looked into it. They have not yet formed an opinion and because of this both terms atheist and agnostic don't seem to fit.
Question: What do I call someone who has not formulated an opinion about god? I'm looking for a word other than "atheist" or "agnostic".
single-word-requests
single-word-requests
New contributor
New contributor
edited 3 hours ago
Laurel
33.3k666118
33.3k666118
New contributor
asked 6 hours ago
TolureTolure
1134
1134
New contributor
New contributor
2
Agnosticism is the view that the existence of God, of the divine or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable
– Stefan
6 hours ago
Adjusted my definition thank you.
– Tolure
6 hours ago
1
I always considered atheism to be a lack of belief in a god (or gods) rather than an active belief in non-existence.
– KillingTime
4 hours ago
Is there a word for not believing in magic?
– Mitch
3 hours ago
add a comment |
2
Agnosticism is the view that the existence of God, of the divine or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable
– Stefan
6 hours ago
Adjusted my definition thank you.
– Tolure
6 hours ago
1
I always considered atheism to be a lack of belief in a god (or gods) rather than an active belief in non-existence.
– KillingTime
4 hours ago
Is there a word for not believing in magic?
– Mitch
3 hours ago
2
2
Agnosticism is the view that the existence of God, of the divine or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable
– Stefan
6 hours ago
Agnosticism is the view that the existence of God, of the divine or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable
– Stefan
6 hours ago
Adjusted my definition thank you.
– Tolure
6 hours ago
Adjusted my definition thank you.
– Tolure
6 hours ago
1
1
I always considered atheism to be a lack of belief in a god (or gods) rather than an active belief in non-existence.
– KillingTime
4 hours ago
I always considered atheism to be a lack of belief in a god (or gods) rather than an active belief in non-existence.
– KillingTime
4 hours ago
Is there a word for not believing in magic?
– Mitch
3 hours ago
Is there a word for not believing in magic?
– Mitch
3 hours ago
add a comment |
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apatheism
An apatheist is someone who is not interested in accepting or rejecting any claims that gods exist or do not exist. The existence of god(s) is not rejected, but may be designated irrelevant.
3
It may be worth noting that "apatheism" and "apatheist" are relatively recent coinages. Douglass Groothuis, Christian Apologetics: A Comprehensive Case for Biblical Faith (2010) attributes the word to Jonathan Rauch's article "Let It Be" in the May 2003 Atlantic Monthly (cited also in the Wikipedia article you link to. ...
– Sven Yargs
2 hours ago
... Thomas Molnar, Theists and Atheists: A Typology of Non-belief (1980) has no such term as "apatheism," although it he does suggest that pantheism, taken literally, amounts to a kind of "God is irrelevant" atheism because equating God with everything that exists is equivalent to taking God out out of the mix of factors that differentiate one thing from another.
– Sven Yargs
2 hours ago
add a comment |
Your definition of agnostic is incomplete:
[Merriam-Webster]
1 : a person who holds the view that any ultimate reality (such as God) is unknown and probably unknowable
broadly : one who is not committed to believing in either the existence or the nonexistence of God or a god
2 : a person who is unwilling to commit to an opinion about something
// political agnostics
In all but the strict first sense, an agnostic is simply someone who doesn't believe one way or the other. They think it might be true—or it might not. In other words, they're not committed to any particular viewpoint.
Unless going by that strict first sense of the word, that doesn't mean that they believe something is actually unknowable. In the second sense of the word, and the casual first sense, an agnostic may also have simply not looked into it much or not really care.
Based on that, you have people who are theists, who believe in the existence of something, people who are atheists, who believe in its nonexistence, and people who are agnostics, who don't (or won't) say one way or the other—for whatever reason.
While there's nothing wrong with apatheism in the other answer, people who are agnostics can also be apatheists. And people who are apatheists may well have looked into it carefully and come to a reasoned conclusion (formed an opinion) that the answer doesn't matter. In fact, I'd say that somebody who claims to be an apatheist must already be aware of what that word means, and so would have formed an opinion about God: that it doesn't matter.
In general, somebody who has not formed an opinion at all is simply undecided. And somebody who has never considered something at all is either wilfully or unintentionally ignorant about that thing.
add a comment |
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2 Answers
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2 Answers
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apatheism
An apatheist is someone who is not interested in accepting or rejecting any claims that gods exist or do not exist. The existence of god(s) is not rejected, but may be designated irrelevant.
3
It may be worth noting that "apatheism" and "apatheist" are relatively recent coinages. Douglass Groothuis, Christian Apologetics: A Comprehensive Case for Biblical Faith (2010) attributes the word to Jonathan Rauch's article "Let It Be" in the May 2003 Atlantic Monthly (cited also in the Wikipedia article you link to. ...
– Sven Yargs
2 hours ago
... Thomas Molnar, Theists and Atheists: A Typology of Non-belief (1980) has no such term as "apatheism," although it he does suggest that pantheism, taken literally, amounts to a kind of "God is irrelevant" atheism because equating God with everything that exists is equivalent to taking God out out of the mix of factors that differentiate one thing from another.
– Sven Yargs
2 hours ago
add a comment |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apatheism
An apatheist is someone who is not interested in accepting or rejecting any claims that gods exist or do not exist. The existence of god(s) is not rejected, but may be designated irrelevant.
3
It may be worth noting that "apatheism" and "apatheist" are relatively recent coinages. Douglass Groothuis, Christian Apologetics: A Comprehensive Case for Biblical Faith (2010) attributes the word to Jonathan Rauch's article "Let It Be" in the May 2003 Atlantic Monthly (cited also in the Wikipedia article you link to. ...
– Sven Yargs
2 hours ago
... Thomas Molnar, Theists and Atheists: A Typology of Non-belief (1980) has no such term as "apatheism," although it he does suggest that pantheism, taken literally, amounts to a kind of "God is irrelevant" atheism because equating God with everything that exists is equivalent to taking God out out of the mix of factors that differentiate one thing from another.
– Sven Yargs
2 hours ago
add a comment |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apatheism
An apatheist is someone who is not interested in accepting or rejecting any claims that gods exist or do not exist. The existence of god(s) is not rejected, but may be designated irrelevant.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apatheism
An apatheist is someone who is not interested in accepting or rejecting any claims that gods exist or do not exist. The existence of god(s) is not rejected, but may be designated irrelevant.
answered 6 hours ago
Keep these mindKeep these mind
1,30411523
1,30411523
3
It may be worth noting that "apatheism" and "apatheist" are relatively recent coinages. Douglass Groothuis, Christian Apologetics: A Comprehensive Case for Biblical Faith (2010) attributes the word to Jonathan Rauch's article "Let It Be" in the May 2003 Atlantic Monthly (cited also in the Wikipedia article you link to. ...
– Sven Yargs
2 hours ago
... Thomas Molnar, Theists and Atheists: A Typology of Non-belief (1980) has no such term as "apatheism," although it he does suggest that pantheism, taken literally, amounts to a kind of "God is irrelevant" atheism because equating God with everything that exists is equivalent to taking God out out of the mix of factors that differentiate one thing from another.
– Sven Yargs
2 hours ago
add a comment |
3
It may be worth noting that "apatheism" and "apatheist" are relatively recent coinages. Douglass Groothuis, Christian Apologetics: A Comprehensive Case for Biblical Faith (2010) attributes the word to Jonathan Rauch's article "Let It Be" in the May 2003 Atlantic Monthly (cited also in the Wikipedia article you link to. ...
– Sven Yargs
2 hours ago
... Thomas Molnar, Theists and Atheists: A Typology of Non-belief (1980) has no such term as "apatheism," although it he does suggest that pantheism, taken literally, amounts to a kind of "God is irrelevant" atheism because equating God with everything that exists is equivalent to taking God out out of the mix of factors that differentiate one thing from another.
– Sven Yargs
2 hours ago
3
3
It may be worth noting that "apatheism" and "apatheist" are relatively recent coinages. Douglass Groothuis, Christian Apologetics: A Comprehensive Case for Biblical Faith (2010) attributes the word to Jonathan Rauch's article "Let It Be" in the May 2003 Atlantic Monthly (cited also in the Wikipedia article you link to. ...
– Sven Yargs
2 hours ago
It may be worth noting that "apatheism" and "apatheist" are relatively recent coinages. Douglass Groothuis, Christian Apologetics: A Comprehensive Case for Biblical Faith (2010) attributes the word to Jonathan Rauch's article "Let It Be" in the May 2003 Atlantic Monthly (cited also in the Wikipedia article you link to. ...
– Sven Yargs
2 hours ago
... Thomas Molnar, Theists and Atheists: A Typology of Non-belief (1980) has no such term as "apatheism," although it he does suggest that pantheism, taken literally, amounts to a kind of "God is irrelevant" atheism because equating God with everything that exists is equivalent to taking God out out of the mix of factors that differentiate one thing from another.
– Sven Yargs
2 hours ago
... Thomas Molnar, Theists and Atheists: A Typology of Non-belief (1980) has no such term as "apatheism," although it he does suggest that pantheism, taken literally, amounts to a kind of "God is irrelevant" atheism because equating God with everything that exists is equivalent to taking God out out of the mix of factors that differentiate one thing from another.
– Sven Yargs
2 hours ago
add a comment |
Your definition of agnostic is incomplete:
[Merriam-Webster]
1 : a person who holds the view that any ultimate reality (such as God) is unknown and probably unknowable
broadly : one who is not committed to believing in either the existence or the nonexistence of God or a god
2 : a person who is unwilling to commit to an opinion about something
// political agnostics
In all but the strict first sense, an agnostic is simply someone who doesn't believe one way or the other. They think it might be true—or it might not. In other words, they're not committed to any particular viewpoint.
Unless going by that strict first sense of the word, that doesn't mean that they believe something is actually unknowable. In the second sense of the word, and the casual first sense, an agnostic may also have simply not looked into it much or not really care.
Based on that, you have people who are theists, who believe in the existence of something, people who are atheists, who believe in its nonexistence, and people who are agnostics, who don't (or won't) say one way or the other—for whatever reason.
While there's nothing wrong with apatheism in the other answer, people who are agnostics can also be apatheists. And people who are apatheists may well have looked into it carefully and come to a reasoned conclusion (formed an opinion) that the answer doesn't matter. In fact, I'd say that somebody who claims to be an apatheist must already be aware of what that word means, and so would have formed an opinion about God: that it doesn't matter.
In general, somebody who has not formed an opinion at all is simply undecided. And somebody who has never considered something at all is either wilfully or unintentionally ignorant about that thing.
add a comment |
Your definition of agnostic is incomplete:
[Merriam-Webster]
1 : a person who holds the view that any ultimate reality (such as God) is unknown and probably unknowable
broadly : one who is not committed to believing in either the existence or the nonexistence of God or a god
2 : a person who is unwilling to commit to an opinion about something
// political agnostics
In all but the strict first sense, an agnostic is simply someone who doesn't believe one way or the other. They think it might be true—or it might not. In other words, they're not committed to any particular viewpoint.
Unless going by that strict first sense of the word, that doesn't mean that they believe something is actually unknowable. In the second sense of the word, and the casual first sense, an agnostic may also have simply not looked into it much or not really care.
Based on that, you have people who are theists, who believe in the existence of something, people who are atheists, who believe in its nonexistence, and people who are agnostics, who don't (or won't) say one way or the other—for whatever reason.
While there's nothing wrong with apatheism in the other answer, people who are agnostics can also be apatheists. And people who are apatheists may well have looked into it carefully and come to a reasoned conclusion (formed an opinion) that the answer doesn't matter. In fact, I'd say that somebody who claims to be an apatheist must already be aware of what that word means, and so would have formed an opinion about God: that it doesn't matter.
In general, somebody who has not formed an opinion at all is simply undecided. And somebody who has never considered something at all is either wilfully or unintentionally ignorant about that thing.
add a comment |
Your definition of agnostic is incomplete:
[Merriam-Webster]
1 : a person who holds the view that any ultimate reality (such as God) is unknown and probably unknowable
broadly : one who is not committed to believing in either the existence or the nonexistence of God or a god
2 : a person who is unwilling to commit to an opinion about something
// political agnostics
In all but the strict first sense, an agnostic is simply someone who doesn't believe one way or the other. They think it might be true—or it might not. In other words, they're not committed to any particular viewpoint.
Unless going by that strict first sense of the word, that doesn't mean that they believe something is actually unknowable. In the second sense of the word, and the casual first sense, an agnostic may also have simply not looked into it much or not really care.
Based on that, you have people who are theists, who believe in the existence of something, people who are atheists, who believe in its nonexistence, and people who are agnostics, who don't (or won't) say one way or the other—for whatever reason.
While there's nothing wrong with apatheism in the other answer, people who are agnostics can also be apatheists. And people who are apatheists may well have looked into it carefully and come to a reasoned conclusion (formed an opinion) that the answer doesn't matter. In fact, I'd say that somebody who claims to be an apatheist must already be aware of what that word means, and so would have formed an opinion about God: that it doesn't matter.
In general, somebody who has not formed an opinion at all is simply undecided. And somebody who has never considered something at all is either wilfully or unintentionally ignorant about that thing.
Your definition of agnostic is incomplete:
[Merriam-Webster]
1 : a person who holds the view that any ultimate reality (such as God) is unknown and probably unknowable
broadly : one who is not committed to believing in either the existence or the nonexistence of God or a god
2 : a person who is unwilling to commit to an opinion about something
// political agnostics
In all but the strict first sense, an agnostic is simply someone who doesn't believe one way or the other. They think it might be true—or it might not. In other words, they're not committed to any particular viewpoint.
Unless going by that strict first sense of the word, that doesn't mean that they believe something is actually unknowable. In the second sense of the word, and the casual first sense, an agnostic may also have simply not looked into it much or not really care.
Based on that, you have people who are theists, who believe in the existence of something, people who are atheists, who believe in its nonexistence, and people who are agnostics, who don't (or won't) say one way or the other—for whatever reason.
While there's nothing wrong with apatheism in the other answer, people who are agnostics can also be apatheists. And people who are apatheists may well have looked into it carefully and come to a reasoned conclusion (formed an opinion) that the answer doesn't matter. In fact, I'd say that somebody who claims to be an apatheist must already be aware of what that word means, and so would have formed an opinion about God: that it doesn't matter.
In general, somebody who has not formed an opinion at all is simply undecided. And somebody who has never considered something at all is either wilfully or unintentionally ignorant about that thing.
edited 5 hours ago
answered 5 hours ago
Jason BassfordJason Bassford
18.4k32144
18.4k32144
add a comment |
add a comment |
Tolure is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Tolure is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Tolure is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
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2
Agnosticism is the view that the existence of God, of the divine or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable
– Stefan
6 hours ago
Adjusted my definition thank you.
– Tolure
6 hours ago
1
I always considered atheism to be a lack of belief in a god (or gods) rather than an active belief in non-existence.
– KillingTime
4 hours ago
Is there a word for not believing in magic?
– Mitch
3 hours ago