Apatheism, or Thumbing My Nose at Dawkins, the Pope, et al.
Apatheism is a portmanteau of apathy and theism. It changes the traditional triad of theist, agnostic, and atheist into a tetrad. The traditional triad concerns itself with possible beliefs and with the possibility of knowledge of God. The theist asserts that there is a God, while the atheist contrarily gives us to understand that God does not exist. And the agnostic is unsure that the available evidence allows for a conclusive resolution. Together these represent the possible answers to any yes/no question: yes, no, and maybe. A darkly ironic reading of Kant’s epistemology is that we know just enough to ask the important questions, but not enough to answer them definitively one way or another. If one wishes to believe, there is reason enough to find God in the stars, in a drop of dew on a daffodil, or in the soul’s longest, darkest night. Conversely, if one is not so inclined, there is reason enough to deny God’s existence. An agnostic is at least honest enough to acknowledge that the evidence is inconclusive, whether one thirsts after the divine, or not.
In contrast to the traditional triad, apatheism is not an epistemic position. It does not reply with yes, no, or maybe to the traditional triad’s Does God exist? An apatheist is not persuaded that the question of God’s existence is of much importance. It is very much in the spirit of…
