#2 - Theism, Deism, Agnosticism and Atheism

Today, class, we will talk about The four main groups of people in this world.

Lets start with Theists because there are more of them in the world than any other group (why is beyond me). Theists include Christians, Mormons, Catholics, Pagans, Hindus, Jews, Muslims and other religions that believe in worship a supernatural god or gods who dictates their life. There are three types of Theists: Monotheists, Polytheists and Henotheists. Monotheists are people who believe that there is only one God. Christians, Catholics, Jews and Muslims are examples of Monotheists. Polytheists are people who believe in and worship multiple Gods. Wiccans and Hindus are both examples of Polytheists. Henotheists only worship a single God but accept the idea of mulitple Gods. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is a Henotheist religion. Many theists generally believe in some sort existence after this life whether it be heaven, paradise, reincarnation or something similar. Some theists accept scientific theories like Evolution and the Big Bang, while others reject them.

Deists are people who believe in a god of nature. They generally do not believe in supernatural things like miracles and prophets but instead believe that God created the universe and left it to us to rule over, choosing not to interfere with our freewill. Unlike most Theists, in my opinion, Deists have the right idea of true freewill. They reject creationism as stated in Genesis and prefer to side with the words of science over the words of scripture. They believe that logic and reasoning is the way to the right path and not faith.

Agnostics believe that we cannot prove or disprove that there is or isn't a god. Like deists they generally accept scientific theories. Agnostics, like deists, generally have varying beliefs... For example, from my own beliefs, I believe that Jesus was a real person, but not the son of God. I also believe in supernatural things like spirits, souls, and reincarnation, even though I accept the fact that we cannot prove or disprove them. I accept evolution, a universe that is illions and illions of years old, the big bang and the fact that homosexuality usually isn't a choice. As much as they are present in my Manuverse stories... I do not believe in creation, sin, miracles, prophecy, the power of prayer, heaven or hell. I really do not know where I stand with the idea of God. If I could make that decision i'd either be a Deist or an Atheist. Like I said in the last article there is a 50/50 chance that a deistic god exists and a 50/50 chance that one does not.

Atheists... I bet you are expecting me to say all Atheists are non religious. Sorry but thats not true... Many Buddhists are actually Atheists. An Atheist is a person who does not believe in a god. There are two types of atheists: Religious Atheists and Non-Religious Atheists. Like I said earlier many Buddhists are religious atheists. Non religious atheists reject the idea of god and religion. they believe that there is no logical way that there can be a god. Non religious atheists are the least trusted group of people in world... which is sad because most atheists I've met or talked to have been more charming and moral than the average theist I meet up with. For some reason people have it in their head that you need to have a God to have morals... this is hardly the case (but i will get into that in a future article)

There you go. a brief rundown of the 4 groups I will be talking about in my articles. I will warn you now that my main focus in the earlier articles will be fundamentalist Christianity so if you believe the world is 6000 years old, that Hell is actually biblical, that dinosaurs died on Noah's Ark and that Wicca and Homosexuality are grave sins worse than murder... prepare to be pwned. Eventually i'll get into other topics but for now its all fundamentalism.

Next up: "The Most Likely History of Theism" or "A look back to primitive mankind"