Theism

Theism is the belief in a Deity or deities. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, theism more narrowly means belief in a deity that is both immanent in the world, but also transcendent, and is also omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent.[1]

The opposite of theism is atheism, which denies the existence of God. There is also agnosticism, which is a lack of belief either way.

Variations of theism include polytheism (many gods, contrasted to monotheism, one god), pantheism (all is God), panentheism (all is in God), and depending who you ask, deism (God made the Universe but then ceased to interact with it), polydeism (many Gods made the Universe but then abandoned it), pandeism (God made the Universe by becoming it), and panendeism (God made the Universe by partially becoming it). Some do not consider the deistic variations to relate to theism at all because they refer to an absent God (although the God of pandeism and panendeism is immanent, but non-interfering).

Variations of polytheism include monolatry (belief in many Gods, but worship of only one), henotheism (belief in many Gods of which one is supreme), and kathenotheism (belief in many Gods, but worship of only one at a time, because one is supreme at a time).

4 The tenuousness of the theistic position

Mother Teresa, in her later years began to doubt the existence of God. Many Holocaust survivors became atheists after the extreme the lived through because they realized their experience is incompatible with a kind and loving God.

5 Claims of the Conditionality and Nonconditionality of Theism

Natural disasters and other horrific events tend to make people more religious and thank God for sparing them. Obvious the dead mother of three was a vile heretic who deserved to die.

6Theism and Fascism

Despite protestations to the contrary theism has been intricately linked with the fascist movement, providing intellectual underpinning for its rejection of reason, antisemitism and strict obedience and moral underpinnings, supporting dictators as stalwart defenders of the faith against communism. In addition the churches were the base at which theists launched their assault against civil rights, women rights and birth control. Fortunately the action of communists and secularists from the American Communist Party and the ACLU respectively helped push forward the case from civil rights in the United States.

7 Criticism of Theism

7.3 Theism and Mass Murder

The ground is stained with the blood of the millions killed in the name of theism. Notorious examples include the crusades, the inquisitions, witch hunts, the Holocaust, suppression of birth control and anesthetics, the Partition of India, The Sri Lankan civil war, The Yugo-Slavian civil war and many others. Although not all wars are caused by theism, many are.

7.5 Immoral Views

In comparison to atheists, theists are more likely to believe that the following are acceptable:

eternal torment, scapegoating, cannibalism, fascism, totalitarianism, theocracies, stoning, blasphemy laws, blue laws, prohibition and random violence against strangers for no reason other then they are different

8 Reasonable Explanations of Theism

1 Fear of Death 2 Desire to Conform 3 Desire to Abdicate responsibility 4 Hope for reward 5 It feels good 6 Tradition 7 Unaware of Alternatives 8 The voices in your head

19 Other Well Known Proponents of Theism

1 Jesus Christ 2 Gandhi 3 Adolf Hitler 4 Franco 5 Mussolini 6 St Francis 7 Henry the Sixth 8 Queen Isabella 9 Montezuma 10 Tojo 11 Mother Teresa 12 Vlad the Impaler 13 Pope Urban 14 Moses 15 Milosovich

21 Quotes regarding theism

Religion is regarded by the people as true, the wise as false and the rulers as useful.

The numbers come from the page on atheism ("Fair and Balanced" hah). Lets see if you can drink your own poison!