Word for a person who has no opinion about whether god exists












2















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".










share|improve this question









New contributor




Tolure is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
















  • 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















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".










share|improve this question









New contributor




Tolure is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
















  • 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








2








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".










share|improve this question









New contributor




Tolure is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.












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






share|improve this question









New contributor




Tolure is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.











share|improve this question









New contributor




Tolure is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.









share|improve this question




share|improve this question








edited 3 hours ago









Laurel

33.3k666118




33.3k666118






New contributor




Tolure is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.









asked 6 hours ago









TolureTolure

1134




1134




New contributor




Tolure is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.





New contributor





Tolure is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.






Tolure is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.








  • 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





    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










2 Answers
2






active

oldest

votes


















9














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.







share|improve this answer



















  • 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



















5














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.






share|improve this answer

























    Your Answer








    StackExchange.ready(function() {
    var channelOptions = {
    tags: "".split(" "),
    id: "97"
    };
    initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

    StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
    // Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
    if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
    StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
    createEditor();
    });
    }
    else {
    createEditor();
    }
    });

    function createEditor() {
    StackExchange.prepareEditor({
    heartbeatType: 'answer',
    autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
    convertImagesToLinks: false,
    noModals: true,
    showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
    reputationToPostImages: null,
    bindNavPrevention: true,
    postfix: "",
    imageUploader: {
    brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
    contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
    allowUrls: true
    },
    noCode: true, onDemand: true,
    discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
    ,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
    });


    }
    });






    Tolure is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.










    draft saved

    draft discarded


















    StackExchange.ready(
    function () {
    StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fenglish.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f489221%2fword-for-a-person-who-has-no-opinion-about-whether-god-exists%23new-answer', 'question_page');
    }
    );

    Post as a guest















    Required, but never shown

























    2 Answers
    2






    active

    oldest

    votes








    2 Answers
    2






    active

    oldest

    votes









    active

    oldest

    votes






    active

    oldest

    votes









    9














    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.







    share|improve this answer



















    • 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
















    9














    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.







    share|improve this answer



















    • 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














    9












    9








    9







    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.







    share|improve this answer













    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.








    share|improve this answer












    share|improve this answer



    share|improve this answer










    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














    • 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













    5














    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.






    share|improve this answer






























      5














      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.






      share|improve this answer




























        5












        5








        5







        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.






        share|improve this answer















        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.







        share|improve this answer














        share|improve this answer



        share|improve this answer








        edited 5 hours ago

























        answered 5 hours ago









        Jason BassfordJason Bassford

        18.4k32144




        18.4k32144






















            Tolure is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.










            draft saved

            draft discarded


















            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.
















            Thanks for contributing an answer to English Language & Usage Stack Exchange!


            • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

            But avoid



            • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

            • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.


            To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.




            draft saved


            draft discarded














            StackExchange.ready(
            function () {
            StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fenglish.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f489221%2fword-for-a-person-who-has-no-opinion-about-whether-god-exists%23new-answer', 'question_page');
            }
            );

            Post as a guest















            Required, but never shown





















































            Required, but never shown














            Required, but never shown












            Required, but never shown







            Required, but never shown

































            Required, but never shown














            Required, but never shown












            Required, but never shown







            Required, but never shown







            Popular posts from this blog

            Loup dans la culture

            How to solve the problem of ntp “Unable to contact time server” from KDE?

            ASUS Zenbook UX433/UX333 — Configure Touchpad-embedded numpad on Linux