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How many people consider Atheism, Theism and Deism religions?

I'm a Deist and I reject religion and am a free-thinker. I consider Deism, Theism and Atheism philosophies. What do you think?

Update:

theism are etymologically related, which sometimes leads to confusion.

* The root of the word deism is the Latin word "deus", which means "god".

* The root of the word theism is the Greek word "theos" (θεóς), which also means "god".

Theism is a general term that refers to all forms of belief in the existence of God or gods.

Deism is a particular form of theism that accepts only Reason and/or Nature as sources of knowledge about God and rejects revelation as a basis for belief. - Wikipedia

17 Answers

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  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago
    Favorite Answer

    It's called Americana

    our founding fathers were Theists, Deists, a theists, philosophers and created a document to keep us free to believe how we choose

    choosing our own religion? that's where the word heretic came from

    I too am a free thinker, go with truth as you may find it, free to accept it without a religion telling you it's not so

    when Magellan saw the shadow of the curve of our earth on the moon, he too was free to say by his own observation the earth was round, and when Galliano saw moons going around Jupiter, he knew something was up and went about proving his theories

    but you make a point in "are they religions" but we can't agree what the heck a religion is..

    my personal feeling is anything 'tied down', named, fixed and now becomes dogma and lacks flexibilty for evolution and change

    here is another

    Defining the word "religion" is fraught with difficulty. All of the definitions that we have encountered contain at least one deficiency:

    Some exclude beliefs and practices that many people passionately defend as religious. For example, their definition might include belief in a God or Goddess or combination of Gods and Goddesses who are responsible for the creation of the universe and for its continuing operation. This excludes such non-theistic religions as Buddhism and many forms of religious Satanism which have no such belief.

    Some definitions equate "religion" with "Christianity," and thus define two out of every three humans in the world as non-religious.

    Some definitions are so broadly written that they include beliefs and areas of study that most people do not regard as religious. For example, David Edward's definition would seem to include cosmology and ecology within his definition of religion -- fields of investigation that most people regard to be a scientific studies and non-religious in nature.

    Some define "religion" in terms of "the sacred" and/or "the spiritual," and thus necessitate the creation of two more definitions.

    Sometimes, definitions of "religion" contain more than one deficiency.

    Our compromise definition:

    This website's essays use a very broad definition of religion: "Religion is any specific system of belief about deity, often involving rituals, a code of ethics, a philosophy of life, and a worldview." (A worldview is a set of basic, foundational beliefs concerning deity, humanity and the rest of the universe.) Thus we would consider Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Native American Spirituality, and Neopaganism to be religions. We also include Agnosticism, Atheism, Humanism, Ethical Culture etc. as religions, because they also contain a "belief about deity" -- their belief is that they do not know whether a deity exists, or they have no knowledge of God, or they sincerely believe that God does not exist.

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    I agree that none of them are religions. I disagree about theism and atheism being philosophies though, they are simply labels for belief/disbelief in god(s). I think deism can be considered to be a philosophy depending on how it's defined.

  • 1 decade ago

    Atheism: the doctrine or belief that there is no God.

    Theism: the belief in one God as the creator and ruler of the universe, without rejection of revelation

    Deism: belief in the existence of a God on the evidence of reason and nature only, with rejection of supernatural revelation

    Religion: a specific fundamental set of beliefs and practices generally agreed upon by a number of persons or sects

    Philosophy: the rational investigation of the truths and principles of being, knowledge, or conduct

    These are all from www.dictionary.com .... so no, Deism, Theism and Atheism are not philosophies, they are religions according to the dictionary.

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    Atheism, Deism, and Theism are categories of how one views religion. The people who follow theism are religious, but Theism in itself is not a religion.

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  • I am a Deist too. Deism is the complete antithesis of religion. Yes, it is a philosophy. Deism is a conclusion based on a number of premises. It fits very well into the confines of a logically deductive argument.

  • Anonymous
    5 years ago

    We Atheists don't like being lumped in with the religious. Religion means belief in gods or belief in the supernatural. We don't have that belief. You might say all those words are belief systems, but some Atheists don't like that either. Atheism, Humanism, that can be a life stance or a life philosophy. Religions can also be life philosophies, I'd say.

  • I would not call deism or theism philosophies as they are based on belief rather than positions derived from rational analysis.

  • 7 years ago

    Its simple here it is: Theism/Cognitive Dissonance and Narcissism. Atheism/Narcissism. It was never about religion.. Good luck, spread the word

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    ATHEISM is a free thinking and itelligent form of belief in the here and now .

    They don`t organize or hold sermons .They believe in what is real .

    When you can use most of your 5 senses to experience something ,that is all the proof they need to believe.

    There are no writings compiled in books to be worshipped,no icons ,and no pretending something is real ,when its not ......

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    Atheism is not a religion.

    I don't know where people got that idiotic and utterly asinine concept but it's not.

    For a religon, you need a deity, dogma and followers (sheep).

    Atheism is simply and acknowledgement that supernatural beings, like god or leprechauns, cannot exist.

    Understand now?

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