Agnosticism is the belief that the nature and existence of gods is unknown and

inherently unknowable due to the nature of subjective experience. Technically, this

position is strong agnosticism: in popular usage, an agnostic may just be someone
who takes no position, pro or con, on the existence of gods, or who has not yet been
able to decide, or who suspends judgmentdue to lack of evidence one way or the
other (weak agnosticism).
Agnosticism maintains that the nature and attributes of God are beyond the grasp of
man's finite and limited mind. Agnostics generally claim either that it is not possible to
have absolute or certain knowledge of the existence or non-existence of God or
gods, or that, while individual certainty may be possible, they personally have no
knowledge. In both cases this involves some form of skepticism.
The earliest professed agnostic was Protagoras, although the term itself (from the
Greek "agnosis" meaning "without knowledge") was not coined in English until the
1880s by T. H. Huxley.

Types of Agnosticism

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Strong Agnosticism:
This is the view (also called hard agnosticism, closed agnosticism, strict
agnosticism, absolute agnosticism orepistemological agnosticism) that the
question of the existence or non-existence of God or gods is unknowable by
reason of our natural inability to verify any experience with anything but
another subjective experience.

Mild Agnosticism:
This is the view (also called weak agnosticism, soft agnosticism, open
agnosticism, empirical agnosticism, ortemporal agnosticism) that the
existence or non-existence of God or gods is currently unknown but is not
necessarilyunknowable, therefore one will withhold judgment until more
evidence becomes available.

Pragmatic Agnosticism:
This is the view that there is no proof of either the existence or non-existence of
God or gods.

Apathetic Agnosticism:
This is the view that there is no proof of either the existence or non-existence of
God or gods, but since any God or gods that may exist appear unconcerned for
the universe or the welfare of its inhabitants, the question is
largely academicanyway.

Agnostic Theism:
This is the view (also called religious agnosticism) of those who do not claim
to know of the existence of God or gods, but still believe in such an existence.

Agnostic Atheism:
This is the view of those who claim not to know of the existence or non-existence
of God or gods, but do not believe in them.

Ignosticism:
This is the view that a coherent definition of "God" must be put forward before
the question of the existence or non-existence of God can even be meaningfully
discussed. If the chosen definition is not coherent, the ignostic holds theNonCognitivist view that the existence of God is meaningless or empirically
untestable. A. J. Ayer, Theodore Drangeand other philosophers see
both atheism and agnosticism as incompatible with ignosticism on the grounds
that atheism and agnosticism accept "God exists" as a meaningful
proposition which can be argued for or against.

Support for Agnosticism

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Some of the most important agnostic philosophers are Protagoras, T. H.

Huxley, Robert Ingersoll and Bertrand Russell, but many more public figures have
been self-confessed agnostics, including Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein, Milton
Friedman, Carl Sagan and Mark Twain.
The Greek Sophist Protagoras was probably the earliest agnostic. He professed that
the existence of the gods was unknowable in the 5th Century B.C.
Huxley was responsible for creating the terms "agnostic" and "agnosticism" to sum up
his own position on Metaphysics. His agnosticism was a response to the
clerical intolerance of the 1860's as it tried to suppress scientific discoveries which
appeared to clash with scripture.
Ingersoll, known as "The Great Agnostic", was an influential American politician in
the late 19th Century, and a strong supporter of Freethought (the philosophical
viewpoint that holds that beliefs should be formed on the basis of science and logicand
not be influenced by emotion, authority, tradition or dogma). He popularized and
justified the agnostic position, which he summed up in his 1986 lecture "Why I Am An
Agnostic".
Russell's "Why I Am Not a Christian" and "Am I An Atheist Or An Agnostic?" are
considered classic statements of agnosticism. He was careful to distinguish between
his atheism as regards certain types of god concepts, and his agnosticism as regards
some other types of superhuman intelligence. Though he generally considered
himself an agnostic in a purelyphilosophical context, he said that the label "atheist"
conveyed a more accurate understanding of his views in a popular context.

Atheism (or non-theism) is the belief that gods do not exist, or a complete rejection
of Theism or any belief in a personal god or gods (the latter also known as antitheism).
It can cover a range of both religious and nonreligious attitudes. Many atheists tend
toward secular philosophies such as Humanism and Naturalism.
The term "atheism" (from the Greek "godless") originated as an insult applied to any
person or belief in conflict with established religion, the first English usage dating
back to the 16th Century. In common use, it merely indicates a disbelief in God, rather
than an active denial of the existence of any gods. With the spread of freethought,
scientific skepticism and criticism of religion, the term began to gather a more specific
meaning and was first used to describe a self-avowed belief in late 18th Century
Europe, and is now increasingly used as a self-description by atheists.
Several religions, including Confucianism, Taoism, Jainism and some varieties
of Buddhism, either do not include belief in apersonal god as a tenet of the religion, or
actively teach non-theism.

History of Atheism

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In Ancient Greece, the 5th Century B.C. philosopher Diagoras is often credited as the
"first atheist" and strongly criticized allreligion and mysticism. Atomists such
as Democritus attempted to explain the world in a purely materialistic way, without
reference to the spiritual or mystical. Epicurus disputed many religious doctrines,
including the existence of an afterlife or apersonal deity and, while he did not rule out
the existence of gods, he believed that if they did exist they were unconcernedwith
humanity. Skeptics like Pyrrho and Sextus Empiricus held that one should suspend
judgment about virtually all beliefs.
During the Middle Ages, Scholasticism and orthodoxy in religious thought was at its
height, and Atheism was a veryuncommon, even dangerous, doctrine, although William
of Ockham went so far as to assert that the divine essence could not
beintuitively or rationally apprehended by human intellect. By the time of
the Renaissance (15th - 16th Centuries), moreskeptical inquiry was beginning
and Niccol Machiavelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Bonaventure des Priers and Franois
Rabelais all criticized religion and the Church during this time.
In 17th and 18th Century Europe, Deism increased in popularity and criticism of
Christianity became increasingly frequent, but it was only towards the end of the 18th
Century that Atheism began to be openly espoused by individuals such as Jean
Meslierand Baron d'Holbach, and the Empiricist David Hume began to undermine the
metaphysical basis of natural theology.

By the mid-19th Century, many prominent German philosophers (including Ludwig

Feuerbach, Arthur Schopenhauer, Karl Marx and Friedrich Nietzsche) were denying the
existence of deities and were strongly critical of religion.
In the 20th Century, atheistic thought found recognition in a wide variety of
other broader philosophies, such
as Existentialism,Objectivism, Humanism, Nihilism, Logical Positivism and Marxism, as
well as the Analytic Philosophy, Structuralism, Naturalismand Nominalism movements
they gave rise to. Bertrand Russell emphatically rejected belief in God, and Ludwig
Wittgensteinand A. J. Ayer, in their different ways, asserted
the unverifiability and meaninglessness of religious statements.

Types of Atheism

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Implicit Atheism is the absence of belief in one or more gods, without a conscious
rejection of it. This may apply to someone who has never thought about belief in
gods, or never been exposed to theistic ideas, or, some would argue, also to newborn
children. Explicit Atheism, on the other hand, is where someone makes a positive
assertion, either weak or strong, regarding their lack of belief in gods.
Another distinction is sometimes made between strong (or positive) atheism
and weak (or negative) atheism. Strong atheism is a term generally used to describe
atheists who accept as true the proposition "gods do not exist". Weak atheismrefers to
any type of non-theism which falls short of this standard, and which can therefore be
considered to also includeAgnosticism.
A third distinction can be made between practical (or pragmatic) atheism,
and theoretical (or contemplative) atheism. Inpractical atheism (also known
as apatheism), individuals live as if there are no gods and explain natural phenomena
without resorting to the divine. This may be from an absence of religious motivation; an
active exclusion of the problem of gods and religion from intellectual pursuit and
practical action; indifference and lack of interest in the problems of gods and religion;
or justignorance or a lack of any idea about gods. Theoretical atheism, on the other
hand, explicitly posits arguments against the existence of gods, and
actively responds to the common theistic arguments (see the section on Philosophy of
Religion).

Arguments for Atheism

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Some atheists argue a lack of empirical evidence for the existence of deities and are
are skeptical of all supernatural beings, while others argue for Atheism
on philosophical, social or historical grounds.
Among the arguments for atheism are:

Epistemological arguments:
Various arguments claim that people cannot know God or determine the
existence of God (arguably equivalent toAgnosticism).
The rationalistic agnosticism of Kant only accepts knowledge deduced
with human rationality, and holds that gods are not discernible as a matter of
principle, and therefore cannot be known to exist. Skepticism asserts that
certainty about anything is impossible, so one can never know the existence of
God. Logical Positivism asserts themeaninglessness or unintelligibility of
basic terms such as "God" and statements such as "God is all-powerful". Noncognitivism holds that the statement "God exists" does not express
a proposition and is therefore nonsensical or cognitively meaningless.

Metaphysical arguments:
Absolute metaphysical atheists subscribe to some form of Physicalism, which
explicitly denies the existence of non-physical beings. Relative metaphysical
atheists maintain an implicit denial of a particular concept of God based on
the incongruity between their individual philosophies and attributes commonly
applied to God, such as transcendence, personal aspect, unity, etc.

Psychological, sociological and economical arguments:

Some thinkers, including the anthropologist Ludwig Feuerbach and the
psycologist Sigmund Freud, have argued that God and other religious beliefs
are human inventions, created to fulfill various psychological and emotional
wants or needs. Marxists like Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels and the Russian
anarchist and revolutionary Mikhail Bakunin have argued that belief in God and
religion are social functions, used by those in power to oppress and enslave
the working classes.

Logical and evidential arguments:

Logical atheism holds that the various conceptions of gods, such as the
personal god of Christianity, are ascribedlogically inconsistent qualities(such
as perfection, omniscience, omnipotence, omnibenevolence, transcendence,
personhood, etc). Epicurus is credited with first expounding the problem of
evil (the problem of reconciling the existence of evil or suffering in the world
with the existence of a god - see the section in Philosophy of Religion), although
a similar argument is also attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, the founder
of Buddhism.

Anthropocentric arguments:
Axiological (or constructive) atheism favors humanity as the absolute source
of ethics and values, and permits individuals to resolve moral
problems without resorting to God. Marx, Nietzsche, Sartre and Freud all used
this argument to some extent to convey messages of liberation, fulldevelopment, and unfettered happiness.

Deism is a form of Monotheism in which it is believed that one God exists, but that this
God does not intervene in the world, or interfere with human life and the laws of the
universe. It posits a non-interventionist creator who permits the universe to run itself
according to natural laws.
Deism derives the existence and nature of God from reason and personal experience,
rather than relying on revelation insacred scriptures (which deists see
as interpretations made by other humans and not as an authoritative sources) or on
thetestimony of others. This is in direct contrast to Fideism (the view that religious
belief depends on faith or revelation, rather than reason). It can maybe best be
descibed as a basic belief rather than as a religion in itself, and there are currently no
established deistic religions.
Deists typically reject supernatural events (e.g. prophecy, miracles, the divinity of
Jesus, the Christian concept of the Trinity), and they regard their faith as a natural
religion as contrasted with one that is revealed by a God or which is artificially
created by humans. They do not view God as an entity in human form; they believe
that one cannot access God through anyorganized religion or set of rituals,
sacraments or other practices; they do not believe that God has selected a chosen
people(e.g. Jews or Christians) to be the recipients of any special revelation or gifts;
and, given that they view God as having left his creation behind, prayer makes no
sense to them, except perhaps to express their appreciation to God for his works.

History of Deism

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The roots of Deism lie with Heraclitus and Plato, but it gained popularity with the natural
theologists of 17th Century England and France, who rejected any special or
supposedly supernatural revelation of God. Isaac Newton's discovery of universal
gravitation explained the behaviour both of objects here on earth and of objects in the
heavens and promoted a world view in which the natural universe is controlled by laws
of nature. This, in turn, suggested a theology in which God created the universe, set it
in motion controlled by natural laws, and thren retired from the scene.
The first use of the term "deism" in English dates back to the early 17th
Century (earlier in France). Lord Herbert of Cherbury(1583 - 1648) is generally
considered the "father of English deism" and his book "De Veritate" (1624) the first
major statement of deism. Deism flourished in England between 1690 and 1740, and
then spread to France, notably via the work of Voltaire, to Germany and to America.
Although not himself a deist, John Locke's "An Essay Concerning Human
Understanding" (1690) marks a major turning point in the history of deism, and a
theory of knowledge based on experience replaced the earlier one ofinnate ideas,
culminating in Matthew Tindal's "Deist Bible" (1730).
During the 18th Century, Deism's converts included Voltaire, Michel de
Montaigne (1533 - 1592), Rousseau and Maximilien Robespierre (1758 - 1794)
in France, and several of the founding fathers of the United States of America. With

the critical the writings of David Hume and Immanuel Kant though, Deism's influence
started to wane as the 18th Century progressed.

Variants of Deism

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Pandeism is the belief that God preceded the universe and created it, but is
now equivalent to it - a composite of Deism and Pantheism. Pandeism holds
that God was a conscious and sentient force or entity
that designed andcreated the universe, which operates by mechanisms set
forth as part of the creation. God thus became anunconscious and nonresponsive being by becoming the universe.

Panendeism is a composite of Deism and Panentheism. It holds that the

universe is part of God, but not all of God, and that it operates according
to natural mechanisms without the neeed for the intervention of a traditional
God, somewhat similar to the Native American concept of the allpervading Great Spirit.

Polydeism is the belief that multiple gods exist, but do not intervene with the
universe - a composite of Deism andPolytheism.

Fideism (from the Latin "fides" or "faith") is the view that religious belief depends
on faith or revelation, rather than reason,intellect or natural theology. In this respect
it is in direct oppposition to the doctrine of Deism. More accurately it objects
toevidentialism, the notion that no belief should be held unless it is supported
by evidence. As a result, it holds that theologymay include logical
contradictions without apology. It may or may not also involve
active disparagement of the claims of reason.
Fideism teaches that rational or scientific arguments for the existence of God (see the
section on Philosophy of Religion) arefallacious and irrelevant, and have nothing to do
with the truth of Christian theology because Christian theology teaches that people
are saved by faith in the Christian God (i.e. trust in the empirically unprovable) and if
the Christian God's existence can be proven, either empirically or logically, then to
that extent faith becomes unnecessary or irrelevant. Therefore, if Christian theology
is true, no immediate proof of the Christian God's existence is possible.

Support for Fideism

Support for fideism is most commonly associated, inter alia, with four major
philosophers: Blaise Pascal, Sren Kierkegaard,William James, and Ludwig
Wittgenstein:

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Tertullian (160 - 235), a Roman early Christian, is often credited with early fideist
tendencies by virtue of his statement "the Son of God died; it is by all means to
be believed, because it is absurd", although it is likely that he was engaging
inironic overstatement here, and his main point was that if a person in whom
you have trust tells you about a miraculous event he witnessed, you can allow
yourself to consider that he may be saying the truth despite the fact that the
event is very unlikely.

Pascal's formu

Monotheism is the belief in the existence of one deity, or in the oneness or

uniqueness of God. It is a type of Theism, and is usually contrasted with Polytheism (the
belief in multiple gods) and Atheism ( the absence of any belief in gods). The Abrahamic
faiths (Judaism, Christianity and Islam), as well as Plato's concept of God, all affirm
monotheism, and this is the usual conception debated within Western Philosophy of
Religion.
The word "monotheism" is derived from the Greek ("monos" meaning "one" and "theos"
meaning "god"), and the English term was first used by the English philosopher Henry
More (1614 - 1687).

History of Monotheism

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The earliest monotheistic religions can be traced back to the Aten cult in
ancient Egypt, the Nasadiya Sukta from the Vedic period of India, and Ahura Mazda,
the one uncreated Creator of Zoroastrianism. There are also monotheistic
denominations within Hinduism, including Vedanta, Vaishnavism, Shaivism, Shaktism,
and Smartism.
The Torah (or Hebrew Bible), which was created between the 13th Century and 4th
Century B.C., is the source of Judaism, and in turn provided the basis for
the Christian and Islamic religions (these three together being known as
the Abrahamic faiths). Jews, Christians and Muslims would probably all agree that
God is an eternally existent being that exists apart from space and time, who is
the creator of the universe, and is omnipotent (all-powerful), omniscient (allknowing), omnibenevolent (all-good or all-loving) and possibly omnipresent (allpresent). The religions, however, differ in the details: Christians, for example, would
further affirm that there are three aspects to God (the Father, the Son and the Holy
Spirit).
More recently, Sikhism is a distinctly monotheistic faith that arose in northern
India during the 16th and 17th Centuries, and the Baha'i faith, a religion founded
in 19th Century Persia, has as it core teaching the one supernatural being, God, who
created all existence.

Philosophical monotheism, and the associated concept of absolute good and evil,
emerged in classical Greece, notably withPlato and the subsequent NeoPlatonists (who developed a kind of theistic monism in which the absolute is identified
with thedivine, either as an impersonal or a personal God).

Types of Monotheism

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Exclusive Monotheism:
The belief that there is only one deity, and that all other claimed deities
are distinct from it and false. The Abrahamic religions, and
the Hindu denomination of Vaishnavism (which regards the worship of anyone
other than Vishnu as incorrect) are examples of Exclusive Monotheism.

Inclusive monotheism:
The belief that there is only one deity, and that all other claimed deities are
just different names for it. The Hindudenomination of Smartism is an example
of Inclusive Monotheism.

Substance Monotheism:
The belief (found in some indigenous African religions) that the many gods are
just different forms of a single underlying substance.

Pantheism:
The belief in one God who is equivalent to Nature or the physical universe, or
that everything is of an all-encompassingimmanent abstract God.

Panentheism:
The belief (also known as Monistic Monotheism), similar to Pantheism, that the
physical universe is joined to, or an integral part of, God, but stressing that God
is greater than (rather than equivalent to) the universe.

Deism:
A form of monotheism in which it is believed that one God exists, but that this
God does not intervene in the world, or interfere with human life and the laws of
the universe. It posits a non-interventionist creator who permits the universe to
run itself according to natural laws.

Henotheism:
The devotion to a single god while accepting the existence of other gods,
and without denying that others can with equal truth worship different gods. It
has been called "monotheism in principle and polytheism in fact".

Monolatrism (or Monolatry):

The belief in the existence of many gods, but with the consistent worship of
only one deity. Unlike Henotheism, Monolatrism asserts that there is only one

god who is worthy of worship, though other gods are known to exist. This is
really more Polytheism than Monotheism.

Misotheism:
The belief that a God exists, but is actually evil. The English word was coined
by Thomas de Quincey in 1846. Strictly speaking, the term connotes an attitude
of hatred towards God, rather than making a statement about His nature.

Dystheism:
The belief that a God exists, but is not wholly good, or possibly even evil (as
opposed to eutheism, the belief that God exists and is wholly good). There are
various examples of arguable dystheism in the Bible.

Panentheism, (also known as Monistic Monotheism), is the belief, similar

to Pantheism, that the physical universe is joined to God, but stressing that God
is greater than (rather than equivalent to) the universe. Thus, the one God
is synonymous with the material universe and interpenetrates every part of nature (as
in Pantheism), but timelessly extends beyond as well. The universe is part of God,
but not all of God.
The Neoplatonism of Plotinus (in which the world itself is a God) is to some extent
panentheistic with polytheistic tendencies, and philosophical treatises have been written
on it in the context of Hinduism for millennia (notably in the "Bhagavad Gita" and
the "Shri Rudram"). Many North American and South American Native religions are
panentheistic in nature, and some elements of panentheism arise in Hasidic
Judaism and Kabbalah, some Sufi orders of Islam, and Eastern and Eastern
Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Christianity.
However, the word "panentheism" (which can be translated as "all in God") was not
coined until 1828, by the German philosopher Karl Christian Friedrich Krause (1781
1832), in an attempt to reconcile Monotheism and Pantheism, and this conception of
God influenced New England Transcendentalists such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, and
was popularized by Charles Hartshorne (1897 - 2000) in his development of process
theology in the 20th Century, and has also been adopted by proponents of
various New Thought beliefs.

Types of Panentheism

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Strong Panentheism:
This refers to the complete identity of God and the cosmos, as opposed to just
God's presence in it, and therefore comes very close to Pantheism. The laws of
nature, then, are not something essentially autonomous, which God must
sometimes manipulate in order to make his will effective, but are part of his will.

Weak Panentheism:
This refers only to the presence of God in the cosmos, as opposed to
some identity between them. The laws of nature, therefore, have
an autonomous status that makes them equivalent to something that
is outside of God.

Panendeism:
This is a composite of Deism and Panentheism. It holds that, while the universe
is part of God, it operates according tonatural mechanisms without the neeed
for the intervention of a traditional God, somewhat similar to the Native
American concept of the all-pervading Great Spirit.

Pantheism is the view that God is equivalent to Nature or the physical universe - that
they are essentially the same thing - or that everything is of an allencompassing immanent abstract God. Thus, each individual human, being part of the
universeor nature, is part of God. The term "pantheism" was coined by the Irish
writer John Toland in 1705.
Some pantheists accept the idea of free will (arguing that individuals have some
choices between right and wrong, even if they likely have little conception of
the greater being of which they are a part), although Determinism is also widespread
(particularly among naturalistic pantheists - see below). Some pantheists also posit
a common purpose for nature and man, while others reject the idea of purpose and
view existence as existing "for its own sake". Although Schopenhauer claimed that
pantheism has no ethics, pantheists maintain that pantheism is the most
ethical viewpoint, pointing out that any harm done to another is doing harm to oneself,
because what harms one harms all.
The concept has been discussed as far back as the time of the "Upanishads" of Vedic
Hinduism, and the philosophers ofAncient
Greece (including Thales, Parmenides and Heraclitus) as well as in Kabalistic
Judaism. The Biblical equation of God to acts of nature, and the definition of God
within the New Testament itself, has led to the establishment of
some Christianpanthistic movements, from early Quakers to later Unitarians. In the
17th Century, there was something of a resurgence, andSpinoza in particular is credited
with belief in a kind of naturalistic pantheism.

Types of Pantheism

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Classical Pantheism:
This is the form of pantheism that equates existence with God without
attempting to redefine or to minimize either term. It believes in
a personal, conscious and omniscient God, and sees this God as uniting
all true religions. In many ways, classical pantheism is similar to Monism, in that

it views all things, from energy to matter to thought to time, as being aspects of
an all-embracing personal god. It is distinct primarily because of
its simplicity and its compatibility andinclusive attitude towards other world
faiths. Classical Pantheism is represented by many religious traditions
includingHinduism and Kabbalistic Judaism.

Biblical Pantheism:
This form of pantheism (vehemently condemned by many traditional Christians)
argues that some pantheistic aspects are expressed in the writings of the Bible.
The Biblical equation of God to acts of nature, and the definition of God within
theNew Testament itself, all provide the basis of appeal to this belief system.

Naturalistic Pantheism:
This is a form of pantheism that holds that the universe,
although unconscious and non-sentient as a whole, is nevertheless a
meaningful focus for mystical fulfillment. Thus Nature is seen as being God
only in a non-traditional, impersonal sense. Critics have alleged that this
constitutes an intentional misuse of terminology, and an attempt to
justify Atheism (or some kind of spiritual naturalism) by mis-labelling it as
pantheism. Naturalistic pantheism is based on the relatively recent views
of Baruch Spinoza (who may have been influenced by Biblical Pantheism)
and John Toland, as well as contemporary influences.

Cosmotheism:
This is a small and controversial movement started in the late 18th Century to
express the feeling was that God is something created by man and did not
exist before man, and is perhaps even an end state of human evolution,
through social planning, eugenics and other forms of genetic engineering.
Among others, H. G. Wells subscribed to a form of Cosmotheism.

Pandeism:
This is a kind of naturalistic pantheism, holding that the universe is an
unconscious and non-sentient God, but also that God was previously a
conscious and sentient force or entity that designed and created the universe.
Thus, according to pandeism, God only became an unconscious and nonsentient
God by becoming the universe. This is a sort ofsynthesis of pantheism
and Deism.

Panentheism:
This belief has features in common with pantheism, such as the idea that the
universe is a part of God, althoughPanentheism argues that God is greater than
nature alone and so the physical universe is just a part of His nature.

Polytheism is the belief in, or worship of, multiple gods (usually assembled in
a pantheon). These gods are usually distinct and separate beings, and are often seen
as similar to humans (anthropomorphic) in their personality traits, but with additional
individual powers, abilities, knowledge or perceptions. Common deities found in
polytheistic beliefs include a Sky god, Death deity, Mother goddess, Love goddess,
Creator deity, Trickster deity, Life-death-rebirth deity and Culture hero.
Animism, Shamanism and Ancestor Worship do not necessarily contrast with
polytheism, but are other perspectives on ethnic or traditional religious
customs compatible (and typically co-occurring) with polytheism.
The term "polytheism" (from the Greek "polus" meaning "many" and "theos" meaning
"god"), is attested in English from the 17th Century (later than "atheism" but earlier
than "theism").

Types of Polytheism

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Hard Polytheism:
The belief, prevalent in mythology, in many gods and goddesses which appear
as distinct and independent beings, often in conflict with one another.
Examples are the ancient Sumerian, Egyptian, Greek and Roman mythologies,
as well as Norse, Aztec and Yoruba mythologies. Another example of hard
polytheism is Euhemerism, the postulate that all gods are in fact historical
humans.

Soft Polytheism:
The belief (similar to inclusive monotheism) in many gods and goddesses
which are considered to be manifestations or"aspects" of a single God, rather
than completely distinct entities. This view sees the gods as being subsumed into
a greater whole, as in most forms of Hinduism and some New Age currents
of Neo-Paganism.

Henotheism:
The devotion to a single god while accepting the existence of other gods,
and without denying that others can with equal truth worship different gods. It
has been called "monotheism in principle and polytheism in fact".

Monolatrism (or Monolatry):

The belief in the existence of many gods, but with the consistent worship of
only one deity. Unlike Henotheism, Monolatrism asserts that there is only one
god who is worthy of worship, though other gods are known to exist.

Kathenotheism:
The belief that there are many gods, but only one deity at a time should be
worshipped, each being supreme in turn.

Ditheism (or Duotheism):

The belief in two equally powerful gods, often, but not always,
with complementary properties and in constantopposition, such as God and
Goddess in Wicca, or Good and Evil in Zoroastrianism and Manichaeism. The
early mystical religion Gnosticism is another example of a ditheistic belief of
sorts, due to their claim that the thing worshipped as God in this world is actually
an evil impostor, but that a true benevolent deity worthy of being called "God"
existsbeyond this world.

Misotheism:
The belief that gods exist, but that they are actually evil. The English word was
coined by Thomas de Quincey in 1846. Strictly speaking, the term connotes an
attitude of hatred towards the god or gods, rather than making a statement
about their nature.

Dystheism:
The belief that gods exist, but that they are not wholly good, or possibly even
evil (as opposed to eutheism, the belief that God exists and is wholly
good). Trickster gods found in polytheistic belief systems often have a
dystheistic nature, and there are various examples of arguable dystheism in
the Bible.

Theism is the belief in the existence of one or more divinities or deities (gods), which
are both immanent (i.e. they exist withinthe universe) and yet transcendent (i.e. they
surpass, or are independent of, physical existence). These gods also in some
wayinteract with the universe (unlike in Deism), and are often considered to
be omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent.
The word "theism" was first coined in English in the 17th Century to contrast with
the earlier term Atheism. "Deism" and "theism" changed meanings slightly around
1700, due to the increasing influence of Atheism: "deism" was originally used as
asynonym for today's "theism", but came to denote a separate philosophical
doctrine (see Deism).
Theism incorporates Monotheism (belief in one God), Polytheism (belief in many gods)
and Deism (belief in one or more gods who do not intevene in the world), as well
as Pantheism (belief that God and the universe are the same
thing), Panentheism(belief that God is everywhere in the universe but still greater and
above the universe) and many other variants (see the section on Philosophy of
Religion). What it does not include is Atheism (belief that there are no gods)
and Agnosticism (belief that it isunknown whether gods exist or not).
The Abrahamic faiths (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) as well
as Hinduism, Sikhism, Baha'i and Zoroastrianism, are all theistic religions.

Types of Theism

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Classical Theism refers to traditional ideas of the major Monotheistic religions such
as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam which hold that God is an absolute, eternal, allknowing (omniscient), all-powerful (omnipotent) and perfect being who is related to
the world as its cause, but is unaffected by the world (immutable), as well as
being transcendent over it.
The doctrines of Classical Theism are based on the writings of Holy Scripture such as
the Tanakh, the Bible or the Qu'ran, although there is also a debt to Platonic and NeoPlatonic philosophy, and thus synthesizes Christian thought and Greek philosophy. To
a large extent it was developed during the 3rd Century by St. Augustine (heavily
influenced by Plotinus), who drew on Platonic Idealism to interpret Christianity, and was
extended by St. Thomas Aquinas in the 13th Century after the rediscovery of the works
of Aristotle.
Open Theism, also known as Free Will Theism, is a recent theological movement
which attempts to explain the practical relationship between the free will of man and
the sovereignty of God, contrary to Classical Theism which holds that God
fullydetermines the future. It argues, among other things, that the concepts of
omnipresence and immutability do not stem from the Bible, but from the subsequent
fusion of Judeo-Christian thought with the Greek
philosophy of Platonism and Stoicism, which posited an infinite God and
a deterministic view of history.