Misotheism

Misotheism is the "hatred of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God" title="God" >God</a>" or "hatred of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gods" title="Gods" class="mw-redirect" >gods</a>" (from the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greek" title="Ancient Greek" >Greek</a> adjective μισόθεος "hating the gods", a compound of<a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%CE%BC%E1%BF%96%CF%83%CE%BF%CF%82" class="extiw" title="wikt:μῖσος" >μῖσος</a> "hatred" and <a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/" class="extiw" title="wikt:" >θεός</a> "god"). In some varieties of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polytheism" title="Polytheism" >polytheism</a>, it was considered possible to inflict punishment on gods by ceasing to worship them[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed" >citation needed</a>]. Thus, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hrafnkell" title="Hrafnkell" class="mw-redirect" >Hrafnkell</a>, protagonist of the eponymous <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icelandic_saga" title="Icelandic saga" class="mw-redirect" >Icelandic saga</a> set in the 10th century, as his temple to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freyr" title="Freyr" >Freyr</a> is burnt and he is enslaved states that "I think it is folly to have faith in gods", never performing another <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bl%C3%B3t" title="Blót" >sacrifice</a>, a position described in the sagas as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go%C3%B0lauss" title="Goðlauss" class="mw-redirect" >goðlauss</a>, "godless". <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Grimm" title="Jacob Grimm" >Jacob Grimm</a> in his Teutonic Mythology observes that:

It is remarkable that Old Norse legend occasionally mentions certain men who, turning away in utter disgust and doubt from the heathen faith, placed their reliance on their own strength and virtue. Thus in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%B4lar_lio%C3%B0" title="Sôlar lioð" class="mw-redirect" >Sôlar lioð</a> 17 we read of Vêbogi and Râdey á sjálf sig þau trûðu, "in themselves they trusted".<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misotheism#cite_note-1" >[1]</a>

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In <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monotheism" title="Monotheism" >monotheism</a>, the sentiment arises in the context of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodicy" title="Theodicy" >theodicy</a> (the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Problem_of_evil" title="Problem of evil" >problem of evil</a>, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euthyphro_dilemma" title="Euthyphro dilemma" >Euthyphro dilemma</a>). A famous literary expression of misotheistic sentiment is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goethe" title="Goethe" class="mw-redirect" >Goethe</a>'s <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prometheus_(Goethe)" title="Prometheus (Goethe)" >Prometheus</a>, composed in the 1770s.

A related concept is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dystheism" title="Dystheism" >dystheism</a> (Greek δύσ θεος "bad god"), the belief that a god is not wholly <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_and_evil" title="Good and evil" >good</a>, and is possibly evil. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trickster" title="Trickster" >Trickster</a>gods found in polytheistic belief systems often have a dystheistic nature. One example is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eshu" title="Eshu" >Eshu</a>, a trickster god from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoruba_mythology" title="Yoruba mythology" class="mw-redirect" >Yoruba mythology</a> who deliberately fostered violence between groups of people for his own amusement, saying that "causing strife is my greatest joy."

Some <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dualist" title="Dualist" class="mw-redirect" >dualist</a> interpretations of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity" title="Christianity" >Christianity</a> would conclude that <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demons" title="Demons" class="mw-redirect" >demons</a> are gods in those subsets of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religions" title="Religions" class="mw-redirect" >religions</a>[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed" >citation needed</a>]. In that context, misotheism is encouraged for one third of all deities but not the other two thirds. The concept of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demiurge" title="Demiurge" >Demiurge</a> in some versions of ancient <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnosticism" title="Gnosticism" >Gnosticism</a> also often portrayed the Demiurge as a generally evil entity.

Many <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polytheistic" title="Polytheistic" class="mw-redirect" >polytheistic</a> deities since prehistoric times have been assumed to be neither good nor evil (or to have both qualities). Thus dystheism is normally used in reference to the Judeo-Christian God. In <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conceptions_of_God" title="Conceptions of God" >conceptions of God</a> as the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summum_bonum" title="Summum bonum" >summum bonum</a>, the proposition of God not being wholly good would of course be a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-contradictory" title="Self-contradictory" class="mw-redirect" >contradiction in terms</a>.

A historical proposition close to "dystheism" is the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deus_deceptor" title="Deus deceptor" class="mw-redirect" >deus deceptor</a> (dieu trompeur) of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Descartes" title="Descartes" class="mw-redirect" >Descartes</a>' <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meditations_on_First_Philosophy" title="Meditations on First Philosophy" >Meditations on First Philosophy</a>, which has been interpreted by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protestant" title="Protestant" class="mw-redirect" >Protestant</a> critics as the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blasphemy" title="Blasphemy" >blasphemous</a> proposition that God exhibits malevolent intent. But Kennington<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misotheism#cite_note-2" >[2]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misotheism#cite_note-3" >[3]</a> states that Descartes never declared his "evil genius" to be omnipotent, but merely no less powerful than he is deceitful, and thus not explicitly an equivalent to God, the singular omnipotent deity.

Misotheism

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