Misotheism

{{bronze}}{{religion}}
{{cquote|Whenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and [[Torture|torturous]] [[Death penalty|executions]], the unrelenting vindictiveness, with which more than half the [[Bible]] is filled, it would be more consistent that we called it the word of a [[demon]] than the Word of God. It is a history of wickedness that has served to corrupt and brutalize mankind.|||[[Thomas Paine]]<ref>[http://thinkexist.com/quotation/whenever_we_read_the_obscene_stories-the/297705.html Thinkexist.org, quotations]</ref>}}

{{cquote|The woman looks at God and she quietly says, “I’m the little girl who threw the brick in the air.” And a sound from above: something falling, the brick. And God looks up, but it’s too late. He never saw it coming. It hits him so hard, his brains shoot out his nose. Game over. He’s dead. And where does God go when he dies? He goes to [[hell]]. Roll on snare drum. Curtains. Good joke.|||Damon Lindelof & Lila Byock<ref>{{wpa|She Was Killed by Space Junk|''Watchmen'' Episode 3 - "She was Killed by Space Junk"}}</ref>}}

'''Misotheism''' is the hatred of [[God]] or gods. It derives its name from the [[Fun:Greek|Greek]] μῖσος "hatred" and θεός "god". Although the concept of hatred of gods and the belief that gods are worthy of hatred dates to antiquity, misotheism is a relatively recent term, appearing only in the late 19<sup>th</sup> and early 20<sup>th</sup> centuries.<ref>[http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/misotheism Wiktionary.org - Misotheism]</ref>

==Religion and dystheism==

[[Polytheism|Polytheistic]] religions often feature pantheons of gods, some with personalities worthy of hate. In these cases, gods are not expected to be wholly good and loved unconditionally. Thus, the related concept of '''dystheism''' applies, which means that God or the gods are not fully and wholly good entities. With respect to religious believers in [[monotheistic]] religions, misotheism can arise due to the [[problem of evil]]; as unable to accept the idea of a good god which allows evil, people can begin hating it, rather than merely ceasing to believe in it. 

Various examples have been put forward to support the idea of dystheism in [[Christianity]].<ref group=note>See [[Examples of God personally killing people]]</ref> [[Bertrand Russell]] often used these in defense of [[atheism]] by suggesting that the God character suggested by the Bible was not worth believing in nor worshiping anyway.

==Misconception with atheism==
A common argument is that [[atheists hate god]]. However, this is not only a faulty argument, but also a misuse of established terminology. Misotheism does not necessarily imply [[atheism]], as you'd probably have to believe in gods first in order to hate them.

As atheism is also a lack of belief in ''any'' and ''all'' gods, it becomes an even stranger assertion, as believers will single out their own as the figure that atheists supposedly hate. Rarely will evangelists ask themselves why they hate the [[Christian gods vs. atheist gods|numerous gods]] they themselves don't believe in. This is most easily addressed by [[belief in belief]], which states that ''any'' belief in ''any'' higher power is better than none at all, but this doesn't actually address the point that non-belief is different from hatred.

Creationist website [[A Storehouse of Knowledge]] incorrectly identifies this as a specific form of misotheism where the atheist merely hates the "idea" of (the Christian) God.<ref>[http://www.astorehouseofknowledge.info/w/Misotheism A Storehouse of Knowledge - Misotheism]</ref> The site also incorrectly identifies hatred of God as less common compared to the hatred of the "idea" of God — again, completely ignoring other religions and the extensive pantheons of polytheistic religions for which misotheism and dystheism apply.

===But God ''is'' a dick...===
Atheistic arguments often do focus on the negative aspects of [[God]] as a character, as depicted in the Bible. The multitude of [[examples of God personally killing people]] is one such common thread that is brought up to discredit God as a likable character. At first glance, this can easily be misconstrued as misotheism, or even [[maltheism]]. An atheist using and believing in ''exclusively'' such arguments would be guilty of a good bit of [[doublethink]], as to bring up such characteristics as a negative requires some degree of belief.

However, this is not always the case. Arguments invoking the clearly evil side of God as a character generally are used in two ways, neither of which implies necessary or secret belief in God:

#To refute the idea that the God whose believers hold him as real would be considered good.
#To emphasise how unworthy of worship such a character would be.

In the first case, it is not a [[theology|theological]] argument about God's ''existence'', but merely the characteristics ascribed by the religion itself. It is an argument often more about a specific religion and its potential inconsistencies and hypocrisies rather than the existence of a higher power of any kind. Belief is not essential for this except as an [[open mind]]ed [[thought experiment]]. The second case is used in refutations to [[Pascal's Wager]] — such as the [[Agnostic Atheism Wager]]. This states that the character of God isn't worthy of worship ''even if it were real'', and so the atheist would rather take his chances in [[hell]] than go to heaven next to such an evil creature. Again, this doesn't indicate or require belief; it is merely a thought experiment that entertains a different set of ideas for the sake of the argument before deriving a set of hypothetical conclusions.

In short, accusations of "hating" God based on these arguments seem to just be splitting hairs over the lack of the qualifying remark "if He exists"<ref group=note>It's as hating, say, [[Fun:Star Wars|Palpatine]] with passion while being fully aware he's a fictional character.</ref>.

==See also==
*[[Atheism#Misconceptions_about_atheists|Atheism - misconceptions]]
*The [[Everlasting No]]
*[[Maltheism]]

==External links==
*[http://creation.com/atheist-god-hate Don Batten - Why do atheists hate God? (creation.com)]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20150908072017/http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-life-and-religion/80053/sorry-god Shalom Auslander, "Sorry God: It’s the time of year for apologies, but not everyone has forgiveness on their mind. An argument for not saying sorry until God does," ''Tablet'', Oct. 6, 2011, as displayed Sep. 8, 2015.]
==Notes==
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==References==
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[[Category:Atheism]]
[[Category:Paradigms of religion]]

Categories: Atheism, Paradigms of religion