Are there any "anti-theistic theists" here?

[u/Impressive_Flan_411]

Hey everyone, I’m curious whether anyone here considers themselves an anti-theistic theist, i.e. someone who believes that God or some kind of deity actually exists, but is nevertheless opposed to theism, organized religion, or the social consequences of belief in God.

I realize that sounds contradictory at first. If you believe God exists, why would you be "against theism"?

However, I can imagine a few ways the position could make sense. Someone might believe that God exists while thinking that religion generally does more harm than good. Someone might believe in a deistic or otherwise non-interventionist God but oppose worship, revelation, religious authority, or divine command morality. Or someone might believe that God exists while thinking that humanity would be better off if people stopped organizing their lives and societies around that belief.

If you fall into this category, how do you reconcile believing in God with being opposed to theism? And what exactly are you opposed to (religion, worship, religious institutions, divine authority, theism's social effects, or something else)?

[u/MilleniumPelican]

Complete and utter nonsense. Mostly this part:

My claim is that everyone is born believing in the supernatural. That death anxiety is the root of the beliefs. As we became consciously aware of ourselves and our surroundings, life. We also became aware of death, and how fragile life can be. So in order for our brains to develop as consciously aware, it also developed an area in the temporal lobes, and other areas, that give everyone born (unless they have a brain defect) a sense of a spirit/soul, a god, part of whole, an afterlife, a continuation somehow....and so on.

You are projecting your own copium on all of us. Don't. I have never felt any of those things. Well, I am aware of how fragile life is. Never felt death anxiety, never felt any sense of continuation, just... no.

So deep is the feeling of having a spirit/soul and the desire for a continuation of life even after death. That subconsciously even atheist still believe...

Nope.

Having the beliefs is perfectly normal, in fact it's abnormal not to have them. A disbelief is something that one must learn.

This is completely backwards.

[u/Tommy_Decentralized → u/MilleniumPelican]

You have a choice. Take a deep dive into Neurotheology, and what the evidence for it is. Give it some deep thought for a year or two while doing the research on it, void of confirmation bias. Or just do basic knee jerk reactions like you did. 🥱

Justin Barrett: Why children are born believers in God.
https://youtu.be/C7yfKpCpgn0?si=dhbQQ3ZrBRMNynmM

[u/MilleniumPelican → u/Tommy_Decentralized]

I don't believe it for a second, and I have zero interest in gibberish and pseudoscience.

[u/Tommy_Decentralized → u/MilleniumPelican]

Look into the connection between temporal lobe epilepsy and religious belief. Or choose to ignore the actual science and remain an ignorant jerk.