Antitheism Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antitheism

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Antitheism, also spelled anti-theism, is the philosophical position that theism should be opposed.^[1][2] The term has had a range of applications. In secular contexts, it typically refers to direct opposition to the belief in any deity.

The word antitheism (or hyphenated anti-theism) has been recorded in English since 1788.^[3] The etymological roots of the word are the Greek anti and 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.^[4][2] The term was likely coined by Pierre-Joseph Proudhon.^[5]

Antitheism has been adopted as a label by those who regard theism as dangerous, destructive, or encouraging of harmful behavior. Christopher Hitchens (2001)^[6] wrote:

I'm not even an atheist so much as I am an antitheist; I not only maintain that all religions are versions of the same untruth, but I hold that the influence of churches, and the effect of religious belief, is positively harmful.^[6]

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".^[7]

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.^[8] He used "antitheism" as a very general umbrella term for all opposition to his own form of theism, which he defined as:

the "belief that the heavens and the earth and all that they contain owe their existence and continuance to the wisdom and will of a supreme, self-existent, omnipotent, omniscient, righteous, and benevolent Being, who is distinct from, and independent of, what He has created."^[8](p 1)

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: not merely because of its hybrid origin and character, but also because it is far too comprehensive. The theories of physical and mental science are non-theistic, even when in no degree, directly or indirectly, antagonistic to theism.^{[8](p 444–445)}

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.

Christopher New (1993)^[9] 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:

Antitheists, like theists, would have believed in an omnipotent, omniscient, eternal creator; but whereas theists in fact believe that the supreme being is also perfectly good, antitheists would have believed that he was perfectly evil.^[9][10]

New's changed definition has reappeared in the work of W.A. Murphree.^[11]

• Barker, Dan (1993). "Evangelistic atheism: Leading believers astray". Freethought Today. Archived from the original on 2005-11-26. Retrieved 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. 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 Electronic Text. A version also appears The Listener, Vol. 43 No.1102, 9 March 1950. pp. 427–429, 432.
• Segal, David (26 October 2006). "Atheist evangelist". The Washington Post (article). p. C01.
• Witham, Larry (2003). By Design, Encounter Books
• Wolff, Gary (November 2006). "The new atheism: The church of the non-believers". Wired magazine (reprint).
• Wright, N.T. (2005). The Last Word, Harper San Francisco
• OHCHR (2024). Hatred based on religion or belief must be addressed holistically.