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Is there an appropriate word that describes both the nature of a believer's belief and attitude towards the object of their belief.

For example: "John left his church because, although his belief in God was unwavering, he did not hold Him in the same esteem as his peers did. He was, in fact, a ----?"

As far as I know (and I may be wrong on any of these), there are a number of words that are related to this:

Theism, agnosticism and atheism seem to describe only the nature of someone's belief in a given god, on a roughly sliding scale.

Anti-theism describes an opposition to the belief itself, but not to the object on the belief.

I've also heard of the term Dystheism, but this seems to describe what one thinks about the attitude of the god itself, rather than one's own attitude.

Perhaps I'm being too picky and one of these words does actually fit the bill.

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Misotheism.

"John left his church because, although his belief in God was unwavering, he did not hold Him in the same esteem as his peers did. He was, in fact, a misotheist."

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    +1 I thought I just made up that word, but it does apparently exist! Nov 11, 2015 at 20:17
  • Well done. The OED does have an entry for it, though with only one example: 1846 T. De Quincey On Christianity in Tait's Edinb. Mag. Apr. 220/1 Hypocrisy, the cringing of sycophants, and the credulities of fear, united to conceal this misotheism. It is said to be both obsolete and rare.
    – WS2
    Nov 11, 2015 at 21:26
  • ...If OED only finds one example, from 170 years ago (one asks how it made it into the dictionary) and flags it as obsolete, one wonders how it could possibly be termed 'an appropriate word'. Nov 11, 2015 at 21:42
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    @EdwinAshworth Well there wouldn't appear to be anything more appropriate would there? The notion of someone believing in a God who is not a god of reason, or love does not come up terribly often does it.
    – WS2
    Nov 11, 2015 at 21:49
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    @EdwinAshworth I actually didn't consult the OED, my suggestion of this word came from hearing someone use it in an actual discussion and a quick googling to make sure that they hadn't just made it up. It may not be quite as dead as you think.
    – Saidoro
    Nov 23, 2015 at 19:46

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