Theism

Theism is the belief in the existence of one or more deities. For the sake of simplicity, I will assume theism refers to monotheism and the nature of the divine being is a personal one. The Abrahamic religions account for more than half of the worlds populations consist of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Many more learned and articulate people have written about the specifics of these three religions. For brevity, I will concentrate on other less technical aspects of theism although I must confess that I don't really know what to address and how to address it. I don't mean to pick on Christianity but this is what I know....so it is the easiest for me to draw example from (good and bad).

One problem of theism, in my humble opinion, is a public image one. Most theistic people are often portrayed in an unflattering light in the news and mass media. There is always a fundamentalist Christian picketing the funeral of a dead soldier, protests in which signs are held up that say "Thank God for Hurricane Katrina", or Islamic individuals being portrayed as terrorists. Along with books and articles being published like the God Delusion and Letter to a Christian Nation.....no wonder there are some negative feelings towards theistic individuals.

However, theistic people don't necessarily do anything to help these public images. Blaming the media can only account for so much. The sad fact remains is that there are Fundamentalist Christians that picket funerals and protest signs with "God hates _____ "(Insert social group of your choice). Fundamentalist Islamic people do contribute significantly to terrorist activities. Televangelists conning older people out of their life savings by telling them that God will view their financial sacrifice as a commitment to follow him. Religion will and always has been hijacked in order to serve peoples selfish needs for wealth, power, and greed.

Another word that is always thrown around when it comes to theistic people is hypocrisy. Some Christians are quick to point out faults in others while ignoring their own faults. They seem to forget that the Bible specifically addresses this type of behavior.

"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?

However, this label of hypocrisy is sometimes unwarranted. Just because someone is a Christian does not mean that they are not without faults. Christians strive to be more like Jesus and habitually fail. Some point at this bad behavior and use if to mock or condemn Christians as if being a Christian is supposed to magically make you perfect. In the Christian world view, only Jesus is perfect. The best that we can do is to try and be as Christ-like as possible although the fact remains this is impossible. Hence the slogan...What Would Jesus Do? Call me crazy, but I really doubt Jesus would be picketing funerals with signs that say "Thank God for Dead Soldiers."

Yet another problem associated with theism is that it is perceived to be anti-scientific. Never mind that some of the greatest scientists in history were very religious and were looking for ways to prove God's greatness. At present there exists a view point that any serious scientist could not possibly be a theist or even a deist. This trend is also catching on with the public. In my search through the internet, many people renounced their religious views in favor of believing in science. This is largely the work of the "new atheists" and their claims that scientific thought inevitably leads to atheism. Stephen Jay Gould, as self professed agnostic, had this to say which contradicts this modern misconception:

"To say it for all my colleagues and for the umpteenth millionth time: science simply cannot adjudicate the issue of God's possible superintendence of nature. We neither affirm nor deny it; we simply can't comment on it as scientists."

This is my final post for the present concerning the "options for beliefs." By no means is this an exhaustive list, but the majority of beliefs could fit into one of these four categories. I will now be moving on to more interesting topics that deal with some of these belief systems.