Apatheism

Apatheism is the position that God, and religion generally, are of no real import to one's daily life. An Apatheist believes that human beings need not concern themselves with the issue of divinity or religion. While apatheism is related to agnosticism, to an apatheist the question of religion and which one, if any, are correct simply isn't one worth asking. Apatheism is not synonymous to atheism or agnosticism, and is contrapositive to all forms of theism. It is important to note the belief that spirituality is pointless does not preclude the idea of morality.

Obviously there is no offical church of apatheism, and apatheism is not recognized as an offical religion anywhere. The term is a portmanteau neologism (combining apathy with atheist) and was used by columnist Jonathan Rauch in The Atlantic Monthly in 2003. There is also a satiric web page with the title "The Church of Apatheism". There are also instances of the term being used on message boards and other Internet venues as early as July 2000.

Contents

1 Another Point of View 2 Apathyism — De-bunking a misconception 3 Related articles 4 External link

Another Point of View

A different source for Apatheism is given at this web site, Apatheism, Allognosticism, and the American Religious Landscape. (http://www.hermetic.com/dionysos/apatheist.htm) Combining apathy with theism is more in line with the way Jonathan Rauch uses the neologism. Early on he characterize himself, an atheist, as also being an apatheist. Later in Let It Be (http://www.mlc-wels.edu/schone/Rauch%20Apatheism.doc) he writes, "And agnostics? True, most of them are apatheists, but most apatheists are not agnostics. Because -- and this is an essential point -- many apatheists are believers." Paraphrasing Mr. Rauch, this also support his statement that Apatheism is not about what you believe, but about how.

A longer quote from "Let it be", which supports and extends the above definition:

To be in the grip of religious zeal is the natural state of human beings, or at least of a great many human beings; that is how much of the species seems to be wired. Apatheism, therefore, should not be assumed to represent a lazy recumbency, like my collapse into a soft chair after a long day. Just the opposite, it is the product of a determined effort to discipline the religious mind set, and often of an equally determined personal effort to master the spiritual passions. It is not a lapse. It is an achievement.

This points to Apatheism being more than apathetic. In order to maintain the dynamic stand of an apatheist, Rauch says we are controlling our normally zealous nature. A less ambiguious way to describe his stand might be assertive - theism. However this does not roll off the tongue like Apatheism.

Apathyism — De-bunking a misconception

Many people hear and read Apathyism instead of Apatheism. On an instinctive or knee-jerk level, they react as though Apatheism meant a general spiritual, ethical and moral apathy. As though it were the worship of the power of indifference or a belief system based on general apathy.

If you Google "Apatheism+Rauch" you should get about 200 hits. Two will be the external links below to Mr. Rauch's article. One or two will be links to undecided responses. The remainder will be almost evenly divided among:

1. En passant attacks on Rauch as any combination of "gay", "Jewish" and/or "Atheistic", usually with the added comment "...and now he just doesn't care!";
2. General laments about how widespread apathy is today; and
3. Attacks on Apatheism as a belief system based on general apathy.

For years Apatheism was used in jokes, as in: "The Atheists and the Fundamentalist Christians are about to come to blows. Quick get a couple of Apatheist to referee. They can do it because, They just don't care." Mr. Rauch started the process of changing the definition of that word. However the jokes still color most people's perception.

The subtle distinction, that Rauch's Apatheist doesn't care about Deities and to a lesser extent about Denominations, Dogmas, and Doctrines, is lost between the reading and the response. The fact that the article also contains Rauch's criticism of what he sees as misuses of religion is missed completely. He criticizes both the September 11^th attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and the issue of Gay Bashing. In fact Jonathan Rauch cared enough about Gay Bashing to "come out of the closet", in order to respond more freely.

As Rauch described it Apatheism is caring about important differences or the ones with a negative impact, and not caring about the unimportant ones.

Related articles

• Ignosticism

External link

• Let It Be (http://www.mlc-wels.edu/schone/Rauch%20Apatheism.doc), Jonathan Rauch's May 2003 article in Microsoft Word format, reprinted by permission of the author.
• Let It Be (http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2003/05/rauch.htm), Jonathan Rauch's May 2003 article using the term “apatheism” (“The greatest development in modern religion is not a religion at all—it's an attitude best described as ‘apatheism’”). Warning unless you subscribe to the online edition of The Atlantic Monthly, you will see only the first two paragraphs.
• Apatheism, Allognosticism, and the American Religious Landscape. (http://www.hermetic.com/dionysos/apatheist.htm)
• The Church of Apatheism (http://www.wunderland.com/WTS/Ginohn/cetera/apatheism.html), a web page first published in August 2000 which also uses the terms “apatheism” and “apatheist”
• Straight Dope Message Board discussion (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=555707#post555707), an early (July 2000) use of the term "apatheist" with enough context as to be clear what meaning is intended.
• Apatheism.net (http://www.apatheism.net), a Web page which seems to consolidate different resources regarding the subject of apatheism and seeks to further the adoption of this philosophy.pl:Apateizm

de:Apatheismus