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Theism, Deism, and Much More

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quill.jpgWhen it comes to religion and spirituality, the subjects within the main subject are often more widespread and complicated than people realize.

Coming up on this site, I will be exploring individual religions and the basics in their beliefs. Before I do that, however, I would like to explore religion just a bit more.

To make it easier, I think it’s best to start in the broadest senses and then narrow down to specifics. When it comes to religion, the broadest category would be if you believe something or not, but I am going a bit narrower than that with some definitions in the realm of belief.

The first way to break down religion is into four categories: Theism, Deism, what I call “ever-present�, and Nontheism.

Theism is that yes, gods or like beings do exist and they interact with the world/universe.

Deism is like theism in that the belief is that gods/beings exist. However, in deism, the belief is that they do not interact/intervene with the universe.

“Ever-Present� – a term that has no official status and is something I’m probably using incorrectly – is the category of belief that encompasses a diety in everything. There are sub-classes of exactly what has a soul or is a diety, but I will explore that later.

Lastly, we have Nontheism where we have Atheism and Agnosticism. This gets a little tricky when you break it down because some Agnostics have a personal faith, but we’ll talk about that later.

And there you have your Intro to Religions 101. In future posts I’ll be breaking these categories down before exploring individual religions groups.


Posted in Definitions, Religion on March 13th, 2008

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Is there a God? Are we alone in the universe? What does life mean? It's not strange or unusual to ask these questions of yourself and of the universe, no matter what your upbringing. Spirituality Guide isn't going to answer those questions for you. Rather, this site is a place where you can explore all these and more. This is a place to question and contribute. And maybe find yourself along the way.

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