What do people think "theist" means?

[Augustus]

What about the theists who lack belief in their gods

Or the theists who lack belief in atheism?

 

[leibowde84]

Or the theists who lack belief in atheism?

How is it possible to lack belief in "atheism"? "Atheism" is a state of being.

 

[Augustus]

How is it possible to lack belief in "atheism"? "Atheism" is a state of being.

Replace with the sound of a slide whistle.

 

[Deathbydefault]

A theist is someone whom has a God belief of some form.
Theism is the practice of believing in one or more Gods.
To be theistic, you must have a God belief.

Simple enough.

 

[Lyndon]

Since most of you are atheists, I'll make it simple for you; the opposite of what you believe about God/gods!!

 

[leibowde84]

Replace with the sound of a slide whistle.

Not sure what this means, but I assume it was at my expense.

But, are you saying that there are theists that don't believe that atheism exists? What you essentially said was "theists that don't believe in the lack of belief in the existence of God or gods."

 

[Augustus]

Because I do actually disagree with how many commonly seem to define theism. Namely, that they seem to conflate theism with classical monotheism, or theism as requiring particular god-attributes common to classical monotheism (i.e., conflating theism with supernaturalism), or that theism is necessarily a matter of belief (a similar problem of which plagues atheism, I hear), among other oddities. I think my other favorite has to be conflating theism with religion.

Theist: Somebody who finds value in one or more gods?

The problem with theism is that it a completely artificial category that is used as a shorthand for various different things for the sake of convenience rather than accuracy. No one, for example, says 'Hi. My name is Augustus. I find value in one or more gods'.

People can't help conflating it with other things, making dominant ideological assumptions and inferring meanings that depend on context, because it ultimately carries very little meaning; it is too artificial.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

Theist is a word used to create the illusion that people of different religions all have something in common. When there's an atheist in the room, they're all theists - once the atheist leaves, they're all suddenly just christians, muslims, etc. again.

 

[leibowde84]

I'd agree if that word "believes" wasn't in there. Why not a word like "knows?" Or "accepts?" Or "feels?" What if it isn't particularly a "belief" to them?

Gnosticism deals with knowledge. So maybe you could say a Gnostic theist.

 

[Ouroboros]

Theists believe in The.

 

[Augustus]

Not sure what this means, but I assume it was at my expense. But, are you saying that there are theists that don't believe that atheism exists? What you essentially said was "theists that don't believe in the lack of belief in the existence of God or gods."

Sorry, was just a joke (but not at your expense.)

See page 1 of the thread, was just parodying the threads on the definition of atheism.

The was meant to show I was joking and I had made the slide whistle comment before to also show I was joking.

 

[Ouroboros]

How is it possible to lack belief in "atheism"? "Atheism" is a state of being.

Hang on. In out other discussions atheism is defined as the lack of belief. That translates to lack of state of being. Belief is a state. Lack of said state would be stateless. Can you explain that "state of being"? What state would it be?

 

[leibowde84]

Hang on. In out other discussions atheism is defined as the lack of belief. That translates to lack of state of being. Belief is a state. Lack of said state would be stateless. Can you explain that "state of being"? What state would it be?

The state of not believing in deities is a state of being. It is the state of being without theism.

 

[Ouroboros]

The state of not believing in deities is a state of being. It is the state of being without theism.

Good. I do agree with you. Which is why the "lack of" phrase is somewhat misleading and misused by some atheists. And that's the reason why I suspect more authoritative dictionaries say "unbelief" rather than "lack of."

 

[Willamena]

Although there is all sorts of arguing and controversy about what "atheist" means, a similar fervor is not had over what "theist" means. Similar problems plague both of these imprecise terms, yet only one of these two has been argued about on RF to the point of nausea. While I don't find this surprising, I do find it rather odd. Thus, I think it's high time to start arguing about what "theism" means. So what are you waiting for?

I stumbled upon a referent for "god" accidentally, so I'm probably the last person to offer up authoritative definition. "Theist," as Kilgore Trout pointed out, is simply theism with the suffix switched up to "ist" to represent the person who practices or is concerned with the subject "ism."
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/-ist

Theism is belief in god or gods, deity or deities, higher powers, superior beings, metaphysical magicians, and authority figures, like money.

 

[leibowde84]

Good. I do agree with you. Which is why the "lack of" phrase is somewhat misleading and misused by some atheists. And that's the reason why I suspect more authoritative dictionaries say "unbelief" rather than "lack of."

I never said that I agreed with this. I don't think that it is misleading at all. Lacking belief in the existence of God is not the same as saying that one actively believes that God does not exist. There is a very good reason why the "lack of" is a part of most dictionary definitions, as "atheism" includes those who don't believe either propositions. They find it silly to believe in the existence of God, but also find it silly to jump to the conclusion that God does not exist for the same reason.

 

[Sundance]

I would've thought that “theism” had a more specific definition than “the belief in at least one deity”.

 

[Cephus]

It's anyone who believes in any gods of any kinds. That's it.

 

[vaguelyhumanoid]

In theory, a believer in one or more gods.

However, arguments about "theism" seem to basically always be about classical monotheism specifically, which is pretty unfortunate.

 

[George-ananda]

What do people think "theist" means?

Primarily, a belief in God (in western societies). Terms are simple and if you want to get more detailed you would have to explain in more than a single word.