Philosophy 350: Philosophy of Religion

Divine Attributes
A taxonomy of beliefs about deities

It is possible to categorize views about deities in a variety of ways. One common

procedure is to classify views about the existence of deities. This classification system
categorizes view about deities as:

• theism — the belief that gods or deities exist

• atheism — an absence of belief in any gods or deities, or a belief that gods or
deities do not exist at all.
• deism — the belief that a god or gods exists, but does not interact with events at
the scale of human beings
• agnosticism — the belief that it is not possible to know whether gods or deities
exist, or the belief that one does not know.

• Some classifications group atheism and agnosticism together under the

classification of nontheism — absence of clearly identified belief in any deity.

The main subcategories of theism are:

• polytheism — roughly, the belief that multiple gods or deities exist

• monotheism — roughly, the belief that only one god exists.

This taxonomy is based on beliefs about the existence of god or gods. Other taxonomies
are possible. For example, a different taxonomy is based on beliefs about the nature or
characteristics (rather than the existence) of God or the gods. Examples include:

• pantheism — roughly, the belief that God and the universe are equivalent [2]
• panentheism — roughly, the belief that the universe is part of God
• dystheism or maltheism — the belief that God is not, as is often assumed, good,
but is actually evil
Theism
Polytheism

Polytheism is the belief that there is more than one deity. In practice, polytheism is not
just the belief that there are multiple gods; it usually includes belief in the existence of a
specific pantheon of distinct deities.

Within polytheism there are hard and soft varieties.

• Hard polytheism views the gods as being distinct and separate beings; an example
of this would be ancient Greek Mythology.
• Soft polytheism views the gods as being subsumed into a greater whole. Most
forms of Hinduism serve as examples of soft polytheism.

Monotheism

Monotheism is the belief that there is only one deity. There are many forms of
monotheism.

• Inclusive monotheism: The belief that there is only one deity, and that all other
claimed deities are just different names for it. The Hindu denomination of
Smartism is an example of inclusive monotheism.
• Exclusive monotheism: The belief that there is only one deity, and that all other
claimed deities are distinct from it and false — either invented, demonic, or
simply incorrect. Most Abrahamic religions, and the Hindu denomination of
Vaishnavism (which regards the worship of anyone other than Vishnu as
incorrect) are examples of exclusive monotheism.
• Pantheism: The view that the universe is identical to a deity.
• Panentheism: The belief that the universe is entirely contained within a deity that
is greater than just the universe and beyond.

Deism

Deism is the belief in god or deity based on reason. It typically rejects supernatural events
(prophecy, miracles) and divine revelation prominent in organized religion, along with
holy books and revealed religions that assert the existence of such things. Instead, Deism
holds that religious beliefs must be founded on human reason and observed features of
the natural world, and that these sources reveal the existence of a supreme being as
creator. [3]
Atheism
Atheism, as a philosophical view, is the position that either affirms the nonexistence of
gods[4] or rejects theism.[5] When defined more broadly, atheism is the absence of belief in
deities, alternatively called nontheism.[6]

Agnosticism
The word "agnostic" was coined by T. H. Huxley, "Darwin's Bulldog," around 1869.
Since then, the word has been used in a variety of ways, as follows.

In one sense of the word, agnosticism is the position that it is not possible to know
whether gods exist. Agnosticism in this sense is an epistemological position about the
limits of possible knowledge. It holds that it is not possible to determine whether gods
exist. Specifically, it holds that the question of the existence of gods is beyond the scope
of science — that it is a question that cannot be answered by science. This position is
epistemological agnosticism or strong agnosticism.[7]

In another, more popular sense, of the word, agnosticism is a personal position. When a
person describes himself as an agnostic he usually means one of the following:

• he takes no position, pro or con, on the existence of gods.

• he has considered the question of the existence of gods, and has not yet been able
to decide whether he believes in the existence of gods or not.

This position is personal agnosticism or weak agnosticism.[7]

References
1. ^ http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04679b.htm "Deism", in The Catholic Encyclopedia)
2. ^ http://www.philosophypages.com/dy/p.htm#pant
3. ^ Webster's New International Dictionary of the English Language (G. & C.
Merriam, 1924) defines deism as belief in the existence of a personal God, with disbelief
in Christian teaching, or with a purely rationalistic interpretation of Scripture...
4. ^ Rowe, William L. (1998). "Atheism". Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Ed.
Edward Craig. “Atheism is the position that affirms the nonexistence of God. It proposes
positive disbelief rather than mere suspension of belief.”
5. ^ Nielsen, Kai "Atheism". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved on 2007-04-28. "…a
more adequate characterization of atheism consists in the more complex claim that to be
an atheist is to be someone who rejects belief in God for [reasons that depend] on how
God is being conceived."
6. ^ religioustolerance.org's short article on Definitions of the term "Atheism" suggests that
there is no consensus on the definition of the term. Simon Blackburn summarizes the
situation in The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy: "Atheism. Either the lack of belief in a
god, or the belief that there is none." Most dictionaries (see the OneLook query for
"atheism") first list one of the more narrow definitions.
7. ^ a b "Agnosticism". A Companion to Epistemology. (1992). Blackwell Publishing. p. 10.
The belief system of the religions of the West (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) is
monotheism. The attributes of the god of the Western religions are impressive. There is a
problem when considering the entire set of attributes. There are questions concerning the
meaning of some of the features of the deity and definitely problems with a being
possessing so many traits at the same time. Over time the concept of the deity developed
by the Israelites, the ONE GOD, has evolved and has taken in the influences of the
Zoroastrians in Mesopotamia and then the Greeks and Romans in Europe. The god or
deity of the Jews and then of the Christian and Islamic peoples came to have these
characteristics associated with it:

Monotheistic definitions

Monotheism is the view that only one God exists (as opposed to multiple gods). In
Western (Christian) thought, God is traditionally described as a being that possesses at
least three necessary properties:

omniscience (all-knowing);

omnipotence (all-powerful); and

omnibenevolence (all good/loving).

In other words, God knows everything, has the power to do anything, and is perfectly
good. Many other properties (e.g., omnipresence) have been alleged to be necessary
properties of a god; however, these are the three most uncontroversial and dominant in
Christian tradition. By contrast, Monism is the view that all is of one essential essence,
substance or energy. Monistic theism, a variant of both monism and monotheism, views
God as both immanent and transcendent. Both are dominant themes in Hinduism.

Even once the word “God” is defined in a monotheistic sense, there are still many
difficult questions to be asked about what this means. For example, what does it mean for
something to be created? How can something be “all-powerful”?