Dystheism
<p><b >Dystheism</b> (from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greek" title="Ancient Greek" >Greek</a> δυσ- <i >dys-</i>, "bad" and θεός theos, "god"), is the belief that a god, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goddess" title="Goddess" >goddess</a>, or singular <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God" title="God" >God</a> is not wholly <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_and_evil" title="Good and evil" >good</a> as is commonly understood (such as the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monotheism" title="Monotheism" >monotheistic</a> religions of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity" title="Christianity" >Christianity</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judaism" title="Judaism" >Judaism</a>), and is possibly <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evilness" title="Evilness" class="mw-redirect" >evil</a>. Definitions of the term somewhat vary, with one author defining it as "where God decides to become malevolent".<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dystheism#cite_note-1" >[1]</a></sup> The concept dates back many decades, with the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victorian_era" title="Victorian era" >Victorian era</a> figure <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algernon_Charles_Swinburne" title="Algernon Charles Swinburne" >Algernon Charles Swinburne</a> writing in his work <i >Anactoria</i> about the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greek" title="Ancient Greek" >ancient Greek</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poet" title="Poet" >poetess</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sappho" title="Sappho" >Sappho</a> and her lover <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anactoria" title="Anactoria" >Anactoria</a> in explicitly dystheistic imagery that includes <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannibalism" title="Cannibalism" >cannibalism</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadomasochism" title="Sadomasochism" >sadomasochism</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-algernon_2-0" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dystheism#cite_note-algernon-2" >[2</a></sup></p>