Wouldn't Polytheism be the true opposite of atheism?

[Willamena]

Most polytheists accept there could be any number of deities, as many gods as are stars.

By contrast, monotheists usually deny all gods except their own, making them effectively atheistic toward all other deities.

Doesn't this make polytheism atheism's true opposite in worldviews?

No, atheists disbelieve in all gods.

 

[Desert Snake]

any theism is..

 

[LuisDantas]

2. Not a given but at least theoretically empirically demonstrable based on surviving evidence. Parrhesia, our equivalent of free speech, was limited in venue and by speaker, and probably even by topic as a practical matter. The fact that women have the power to diverge in thought and speech today is a radical expansion of the concept.

That is IMO an hurried, misleading conclusion to reach, though. For most of human history people were simply too busy to easily engage in the exotic, highly alienated forms of faith abuse and political denial that we have today.

Again, this isn't so much about what it means today as about what it meant historically. Today's monotheists have equally absurd romantic thoughts about being the first to conceive of opposition to infanticide or even plain murder. Rhetorically appealing, maybe, but not sourced in reality.

Agreed.

 

[Quintessence]

No, atheists disbelieve in all gods.

I wouldn't quite say this is the case. In practice, atheism is very context-specific, meaning disbelief in specific god-concepts or ideas about god(s), or semantical disagreements. For example, I have yet to meet a single atheist who disbelieves in my gods. They'd be complete nutters if they did. What they disagree with is calling my gods "gods." That is fair, and there are other theists who have that issue as well.

 

[Monk Of Reason]

Most polytheists accept there could be any number of deities, as many gods as are stars.

By contrast, monotheists usually deny all gods except their own, making them effectively atheistic toward all other deities.

Doesn't this make polytheism atheism's true opposite in worldviews?

No. 3 is no more the opposite of 9 than 1. Its an "either/or" qualifier. There isn't really different degree's of "theism" or degree's of "atheism" for the base terms. There are different levels of surety in knowledge claims and adamants in your beliefs but you either believe or not.

 

[Revoltingest]

Most polytheists accept there could be any number of deities, as many gods as are stars.

By contrast, monotheists usually deny all gods except their own, making them effectively atheistic toward all other deities.

Doesn't this make polytheism atheism's true opposite in worldviews?

Nah, not for me.
Regarding deities, there are only 2 kinds of numbers:
Zero
All the others.

If religions are mono or poly,
with their gods labelled Yaweh or Kali,
cuz they're all the same,
no matter the name,
I reject them completely, by golly.

 

[Quintessence]

If religions are mono or poly,
with their gods labelled Yaweh or Kali,
cuz they're all the same

How so? I'm having a very, very hard time wrapping my head around this "all gods are the same" thing. One might as well ask me to believe that red and blue are the same color.

 

[Jainarayan]

Nah, not for me.
Regarding deities, there are only 2 kinds of numbers:
Zero
All the others.

If religions are mono or poly,
with their gods labelled Yaweh or Kali,
cuz they're all the same,
no matter the name,
I reject them completely, by golly.

The belief that all deities are the same is not held universally by polytheists. Afaik it is only within Hinduism that there is the belief that all deities are manifestations of one God. And even that is not universal in Hinduism. There are hard polytheists in Hinduism. What I know so far of Pagan and Heathen religions is that they are overwhelmingly hard polytheistic.

 

[Monk Of Reason]

How so? I'm having a very, very hard time wrapping my head around this "all gods are the same" thing. One might as well ask me to believe that red and blue are the same color.

No but we could argue that both red and blue, despite being different colors, are equally opposite to "not having color".

 

[Revoltingest]

The belief that all deities are the same is not held universally by polytheists.

The sameness I claim is only from my own heathen perspective, not from theirs.

 

[Jainarayan]

The sameness I claim is only from my own heathen perspective, not from theirs.

Ah! I see. I misread.

 

[Gnostic Seeker]

I don't think all gods are the same myself. I think the Greek gods are the Greek gods, the Norse are the Norse, etc. and might not even be the same kind of beings.

 

[Sabour]

The opposite of not believing of something is believing in something. It doesn't matter if you believe more.

 

[Koldo]

Most polytheists accept there could be any number of deities, as many gods as are stars.

By contrast, monotheists usually deny all gods except their own, making them effectively atheistic toward all other deities.

Doesn't this make polytheism atheism's true opposite in worldviews?

An atheist may accept that any number of deities could possibly exist.

The true opposite of atheism, in this sense, would be the belief that all ( proposed ) gods exist.

 

[LuisDantas]

I don't think all gods are the same myself. I think the Greek gods are the Greek gods, the Norse are the Norse, etc. and might not even be the same kind of beings.

Fair enough. Still, by the perspective of an atheist the differences are irrelevant. We just don't believe in any.

 

[Gnostic Seeker]

Fair enough. Still, by the perspective of an atheist the differences are irrelevant. We just don't believe in any.

Nor do monotheists- believe in any except theirs.