Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Theology 1.0-- Introduction to world views

Hi readers, this post is an introduction to different world views on religion. Bear in mind I am over-simplifying. And that this list is non-exhaustive.

Theism-- belief that god/gods exists and are involved in humanity and the world. Monotheism would be the belief in one god (such as Christianity, Islam and Judaism), and polytheism accpets that many gods exists (such as traditional Hinduism)

Deism-- belief that god/gods exists, but are not involved with the world. (As one of my deist friend puts it, "A god created the world, but he doesn't care about it.")

Pantheism-- belief that God is in nature. Unlike theism where God/gods is separate from nature.

Panentheism-- belief that nature is part of God. Unlike pantheism which equates nature to God.

Agnosticism-- belief thatthe question if God/gods exists is unknowable.

Atheism-- belief that no deities exist.

This are just some of the views of the world. Bear in mind some of the views are not mutually exclusive. For instance, one can believe in pantheism and still be a deist. And of course, there are varying levels of beliefs, such as strong atheism, weak agnosticism etc.....

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