Nontheism

The Oxford English Dictionary (2007) does not have an entry for nontheism or non-theism, but it does have an entry for non-theist, defined as "A person who is not a theist", and an entry for the adjectival non-theistic.{{Citation needed|date=March 2012}}

An early usage of the hyphenated non-theism is by George Holyoake in 1852,"The Reasoner", New Series, No. VIII. 115 who introduces it because:

{{quote|Mr. [Charles] Southwell has taken an objection to the term Atheism. We are glad he has. We have disused it a long time [...]. We disuse it, because Atheist is a worn-out word. Both the ancients and the moderns have understood by it one without God, and also without morality. Thus the term connotes more than any well-informed and earnest person accepting it ever included in it; that is, the word carries with it associations of immorality, which have been repudiated by the Atheist as seriously as by the Christian. Non-theism is a term less open to the same misunderstanding, as it implies the simple non-acceptance of the Theist's explanation of the origin and government of the world.}}

This passage is cited by James Buchanan in his 1857 Modern Atheism under its forms of Pantheism, Materialism, Secularism, Development, and Natural Laws, who however goes on to state:

{{quote|"Non-theism" was afterwards exchanged [by Holyoake] for "Secularism", as a term less liable to misconstruction, and more correctly descriptive of the real import of the theory.{{cite book|last=Buchanan|first=James|author-link=James Buchanan (minister)|title=Modern Atheism under its forms of Pantheism, Materialism, Secularism, Development, and Natural Laws|url=https://archive.org/details/modernatheismun00buchgoog|year=1857|publisher=Sheldon, Blakeman & co .; [etc., etc.] }}}}

Spelling without hyphen sees scattered use in the later 20th century, following Harvey Cox's 1966 Secular City: "Thus the hidden God or deus absconditus of biblical theology may be mistaken for the no-god-at-all of nontheism."{{cite book|last=Cox|first=Harvey|author-link=Harvey Cox|title=Secular City|url=https://archive.org/details/secularcitydebat00call|url-access=registration|year=1966|pages=225|publisher=New York, Macmillan }} Usage increased in the 1990s in contexts where association with the terms atheism or antitheism was unwanted. The 1998 Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics states, "In the strict sense, all forms of nontheisms are naturalistic, including atheism, pantheism, deism, and agnosticism."{{cite book|title=Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics|year=1998|volume=Naturalism|pages=252}}

Pema Chödrön uses the term in the context of Buddhism:

{{quote|The difference between theism and nontheism is not whether one does or does not believe in God.[...] Theism is a deep-seated conviction that there's some hand to hold [...] Non-theism is relaxing with the ambiguity and uncertainty of the present moment without reaching for anything to protect ourselves [...] Nontheism is finally realizing there is no babysitter you can count on.{{cite book

|last= Chodron

|first= Pema

|title= When Things Fall Apart

|year= 2002

|publisher= Shambhala Publications, Inc.

|isbn= 1-57062-969-2

|pages= 39f}}}}

{{Main|Nontheistic religion}}

Nontheistic traditions of thought have played roles in Buddhism,B. Alan Wallace, Contemplative Science. Columbia University Press, 2007, pages 97-98. Christianity,Spong, John Shelby, A New Christianity for a New World: Why Traditional Faith Is Dying and How a New Faith Is Being Born, {{ISBN|0-06-067063-0}}Tillich, Paul. (1951) Systematic Theology, p.205. including Nontheist Quakers, Hinduism,Catherine Robinson, Interpretations of the Bhagavad-Gītā and Images of the Hindu Tradition: The Song of the Lord. Routledge Press, 1992, page 51. Jainism, Taoism, Creativity, Dudeism, Raëlism,{{cite magazine| url=http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,404175,00.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030110094642/http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,404175,00.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=January 10, 2003 | magazine=Time | first=Anne | last=Berryman | title=Who Are the Raelians? | date=4 January 2003}} Humanistic Judaism,{{cite web|title=SHJ Philosophy|url=http://www.shj.org/mission.htm|work=Society for Humanistic Judaism|access-date=18 August 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130813073051/http://www.shj.org/mission.htm|archive-date=13 August 2013}} Laveyan Satanism, The Satanic Temple,{{Cite web|url=https://apnews.com/6addf2f0ecb646919cb1cfcfdacfc6c1|title=Satanic Temple: IRS has designated it a tax-exempt church|date=2019-04-25|website=AP NEWS|access-date=2019-07-30}} Unitarian Universalism,{{cite web|title=Humanism: Theological Diversity in Unitarian Universalism|url=http://www.uua.org/beliefs/welcome/humanism/index.shtml|work=Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations|access-date=18 August 2013}}{{cite web|title=Atheism and Agnosticism: Part of the Theological Diversity Within Unitarian Universalism|url=http://www.uua.org/beliefs/welcome/atheism/index.shtml|work=Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations|access-date=18 August 2013}} and Ethical culture.{{cite web|title=American Ethical Union|url=http://aeu.org/|access-date=18 August 2013}}

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{{Reflist|20em}}

• {{Commonscatinline}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20090424040148/http://nontheism.org/ Nontheism.org]

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