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Is there a single word for the act of a believer temporarily ignoring, or failing to worship, (any) God?

For instance: "God is becoming vengeful due to your [lack of worship]."

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    lack of faith
    – 123
    Feb 3, 2016 at 10:22
  • 1
    Recidivism in its sense of returning to a state of sin
    – Charl E
    Feb 3, 2016 at 10:29
  • 11
    I find your lack of faith disturbing.
    – John Clifford
    Feb 3, 2016 at 10:52
  • 2
    If it is for somebody devout that doesn't worship, the context changes and you'll need to think about why as it can change the word/phrases. Is it due to apathy, doubt, spite?
    – Allan S. Hansen
    Feb 3, 2016 at 13:30
  • 2
    how about enlightenment
    – Jodrell
    Feb 3, 2016 at 17:33

6 Answers 6

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31

God is becoming vengeful due to your lack of piety.

This implies lack of actions, not lack of belief; the protagonist is not necessarily an atheist or an apostate.

From wikipedia piety is

noun - spiritual terminology, piety is a virtue that may include religious devotion, spirituality, or a mixture of both.

and

The word piety comes from the Latin word pietas, the noun form of the adjective pius (which means "devout" or "dutiful"). Pietas in traditional Latin usage expressed a complex, highly valued Roman virtue; a man with pietas respected his responsibilities to gods, country, parents, and kin.

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  • 13
    To add to this answer, "impiety" would be a single word for the lack of piety.
    – Myron
    Feb 3, 2016 at 16:15
10

"God is becoming vengeful due to your backsliding".

backslide: to lapse morally or in the practice of religion

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9

Here are three words:

  1. Apostate, Apostacy. One who abandons or renounces religious belief.
  2. Recusant, Recusancy. One who refuses to attend church services.
  3. Reprobate, Reprobation. Original Greek meaning, one who knew the truth in the past but has fully abandoned their faith, the final state of an Apostate. See this post on "What does it mean to have a reprobate mind?" from GotQuestions.org.
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"Unfaithfulness" "Repent from your acts of unfaithfulness"

Faith is often used as if it simply meant belief, but it actually "implies unswerving adherence". Unfaithfulness (or the more Latin Infidelity) appropriately describes any relationship (spiritual, marital, etc.) that sees lapses of devotion, attention improperly directed elsewhere, or all forms of disloyalty.

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5

irreverence

would be one possibility.

a. The fact or quality of being irreverent; absence or violation of reverence; disrespect to a person or thing held sacred or worthy of honour.

from the OED.

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There is an adjective for people who are a member of a faith but are not actively engaged with it:

non-practising

Brought up as a member of a particular religion but not following its rules and practices
a non-practising Catholic

Source: Oxford Dictionaries

I didn't see a source on a noun form that retains the religious connection, but you could write your sentence as

God is becoming vengeful due to your nonpractising nature.

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