Alright, so one thing that always bugs me in the comments is when people get up in arms on an anti-religion or anti-atheist circlejerk post and start arguing in the comments without knowing exactly what the definitions of these things are. In order to alleviate this issue, I've decided to make this post in the hopes that it interests some of you enough to look it up yourselves and help correct other people.

While I will admit that I am no expert in philosophy, I have a rudimentary understanding of it. Because of this, I will try to limit my explanations to avoid spreading false details due to my lack of expertise. If there is something wrong, please point it out to me and I'll update it if I can find a reliable source backing it up (probably wikipedia).

There are also dozens of other different philosophies that fill in a the little nooks and crannies that I will not be covering in this post. I'm going with these because I have a fair understanding of their basics. I will also be posting wikipedia links for the different topics for those who want a better understanding.

Atheism

I'm going to start this off with the first theological philosophy people come across the most on here. At its base level, Atheism is the lack of belief in a higher being. Other, narrower definitions specifically state it as the position that there are no deities. Either way, both stances are seen as Atheism.

What always annoys me when people talk about Atheists is when they complain about them treating religious people horribly. This is not Atheism. I repeat: THIS IS NOT ATHEISM. It's actually a different (but not mutually exclusive) philosophy from Atheism. It's called Antitheism and I will be explaining it further down.

If you would like to read up more on what Atheism is, you can read up at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheism

Theism

This is the philosophy that you probably did not realize you were familiar with. Essentially, Theism is the belief in one, or many, higher beings. It encompasses all major and minor religions, as well as many personal philosophies. In a much broader sense, they believe that a "perfectly conscious understanding being, or mind, existing of itself from eternity, was the cause of all other things."

Theism encompasses a large number of theological philosophies, the main ones being Mono- and Polytheism, as well as Pantheism and Deism.

You can read more at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theism

Deism

Deism is rather interesting to me, as it's pretty much the closest Theism can get to being Atheism while still being Theism.

Essentially, Deism is the belief that there is a higher being that created the universe, but did so in a way that it required no further intervention. Imagine The Bible, but after "let there be Light", God just sat back and watched the rest of the universe play out.

A very big advantage that this philosophy has, and is the main reason for it, is that it removes the issues of the multiple contradictions in most religions. I'm going decline on giving example of said contradictions, because I can't find the 10ft pole for not poking that issue.

Deists do not follow any organized religion, and are skeptical of miracles and prophesies. In fact, most of the Founding Fathers of the U.S. were Deists, not Atheists as some would have you believe.

For those of you who'd like to read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deism

Agnosticism

I'm sure a large portion of you already know what this is from South Park, but for those of you who do not know, Agnosticism is the belief that the existence of a higher being or deity cannot be proven one way or another. It is also not mutually exclusive from the previous philosophies described, although it is very rare to see an Agnostic Theist. One can have a lack of belief in a higher being, but still admit that there is a chance they are wrong, as they can't prove one way or another. That person is an Agnostic Atheist.

The opposite of Agnosticism is Gnosticism, which is the believe that the existence of a deity is knowable. Ever meet someone who said that God is real because The Bible says he is? While a logical fallacy, it's a perfect example of a Gnostic Theist. There's also Gnostic Atheists, who say that they do not believe in a higher being because we have no proof that he exists.

You can read more at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnosticism

Anti-theism

The one we've all been waiting to discuss, Antitheism is the philosophy that people love to complain about. In the most general terms, Antitheism is the active opposition to Theism, but in most contexts it refers to the opposition of organized religion.

"Now how does that work?" you may ask. Take me for example. I don't like organized religion (there's a number of reasons and I usually don't talk about it), however, I'm perfectly fine with Deism and sometimes even praise its lack of contradictions.

Then there's the assholes. We all know one. They're the people that attack other for believing in deities. It's also a common quality in neckbeards when you think about it.

Funny enough, Antitheism is not exclusive to Atheists. Deists and Secular Humanists can be Antitheists as well. In some situations, Antitheism is actually exclusive FROM Atheism, since if someone is aggressive towards people that believe in God, there's a chance that they are actually angry at God himself, meaning that they actually believe in a god deep down and therefore not an Atheist.

You can read more at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antitheism

Flying Spaghetti Monster Tax

In case you're getting deja vu, Imgur picked the worst image for the thumbnail, people downvoting without reading it. Since it wouldn't let me fix it in the post, I resubmitted it with a better thumbnail.

Also, I just watched Deadpool. I don't usually like Ryan Reynolds, but the guy really hit it out of the park with this. It's AMAZING.