Dystheism

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Dystheism is the belief that there is a God that does exist and is not wholly "good", or might even be "evil". The opposite concept is eutheism, the belief that God exists and is good.

The notion of dystheism is closely related to theodicy (the problem of evil, the Euthyphro dilemma).

Contents

[edit] Terminology

Eutheism and dystheism are straightforward Greek formations paralleling atheism; δύσθεος in the sense of "godless, ungodly" appearing e.g. in Aeschylus (Agamemnon 1590). The terms are used by University of Texas at Austin philosophy professor Robert C. Koons, who in a 1998 lecture. According to Koons, "eutheism is the thesis that God exists and is wholly good, [... while] dystheism is the thesis that God exists but is not wholly good."

Before this, there was no established term for the belief that God existed and was not good, although the word "misotheism" (meaning "hatred of God") had been included in the dictionary since 1907[1] and the word "maltheistic" had been used online, as well as among designers and players of role-playing games to describe a constructed world with a malevolent deity.[2]

Historically speaking, no one term has been consistently applied to the dystheistic viewpoint. Usage of dystheism seems to be limited to Koons' lecture, but it appears to be the only example at all of a word used in an academic context to describe this phenomenon. (Whether or not Koons coined this term himself is difficult to prove or disprove, but we have found no prior attestation). Related terms include:

  • Misotheism is defined as "hatred of God". It is comparable to the original meaning of Greek atheos of "rejecting the gods, rejected by the gods, godforsaken." Strictly speaking, the term connotes an attitude towards God (one of hatred) rather than making a statement about God's nature. Evil people, for example, might hate a good God for thwarting them in their evil pursuits. Likewise, good people might hate an evil God.
  • Antitheism is direct opposition to theism. As such, it is generally manifested more as an opposition to belief in a God (to theism per se) than as opposition to God himself, making it more associated with antireligion. Under this definition, antitheism is a rejection of theism that does not necessarily imply belief in God on the part of the antitheist. Some (particularly religious extremists) might equate any form of antitheism (or even atheism) to an overt opposition to God, since these beliefs run contrary to the idea of making devotion to God the highest priority in life.

Dystheistic speculation arises from consideration of the problem of evil—the question of why an omnipotent, omniscient, and supposedly omnibenevolent God would allow evil to exist in the world. Koons notes that this is only a theological problem for a eutheist, since a dystheist would not find the existence of evil (or God's authorship of it) to be an obstacle to theistic belief. In fact, the dystheistic option would be a consistent non-contradictory response to the problem of evil. Thus Koons concludes that the problem of theodicy—explaining how God can be good despite the apparent contradiction presented in the problem of evil—does not pose a challenge to all possible forms of theism (i.e., that the problem of evil does not present a contradiction to someone who would believe that God exists but that he is not necessarily good).

This conclusion implicitly takes the first horn of the Euthyphro dilemma, asserting the independence of good and evil morality from the God defined in monotheism. Historically, the notion of "good" as an absolute concept has emerged in parallel with the notion of a single God identified with it. In this sense, dystheism amounts to the abandonment of a central feature of historical monotheism: the de facto association of God with the summum bonum.

[edit] Where Are the Dystheists?

Koons viewed dystheism as largely a hypothetical position which has not found historical defenders. Even those who bring up the position from a scholarly theological perspective do not overtly advocate it. (Koons himself identifies as a Lutheran.) While a number of people have voiced dystheistic opinions, few if any have applied that label (or any label) to those opinions.

The majority of people in the modern world who do believe in the existence of an evil supernatural being tend not to identify it as "God", but rather as "demon", "devil" or similar. Such people are not dystheists; only those who would believe that the entity identified as God is evil can be considered dystheists.

Likewise, the numerous examples of people spontaneously expressing "hatred of God," not as a theological principle but as a statement of anger or unhappiness over misfortunes attributed to Acts of God, are not necessarily dystheists. The majority of such people return to eutheistic belief after such "tests of faith" (often through the encouragement of clergy), but many do not.

One possible reason for the apparent rarity of real world dystheists is that theists who define God as both omnipotent and omniscient usually view God as the sole authoritative arbiter of moral law, claiming that his actions and prescriptions are good because God is good by definition. This view stems from the divine command theory, an approach to morality arising from accepting the second horn of the Euthyphro Dilemma. According to this view, there is no logical possibility that the terms "God" and "good" can be in opposition. The circularity of this notion has caused divine command theory to fall into disfavor, surviving from a theological perspective only in radically modified forms that many modern theologians find unsatisfying. This notion does, however, form the basis of the beliefs eutheists have about God and his nature.

Another possible reason for the apparent rarity of real world dystheists is that no word until now has been adequately catalogued or registered within academic circles to denote this belief or its adherents, even though there have been numerous examples of the sentiment throughout history. As Bernard Schweitzer wrote, "Strange enough, though, that the English vocabulary seems to lack a suitable word for outright hatred of God... [even though] history records a number of outspoken misotheists."[3]

Yet another reason could be psychological. The idea that there is a being that is infinitely more powerful than you and He is not necessarily your friend or humanity's friend is not exactly a comforting belief.

[edit] Biblical evidence

Main article: Ethics_in_the_Bible#God.27s_benevolence

There are various examples of arguable dystheism in the Bible, sometimes cited as arguments for atheism (e.g. Bertrand Russell 1957). Most of these are from the Pentateuch, the theological nature of which is still close to henotheism. A notable exception is the Book of Job, a classical case study of theodicy, which can be argued to consciously discuss the possibility of dystheism (e.g. Carl Jung, Antwort auf Hiob).

  • The story of Adam and Eve, Genesis 2:16: God setting up a trap for Adam and Eve.
  • Tower of Babel: God jealously chastising humanity for attempting to succeed using their own talent.
  • The Hardening of Pharaoh's Heart in the story of Moses in Exodus: God is explicitly shown to inspire impious behaviour on the Pharaoh's part (interfering with free will) so he can punish him for it.
  • Deuteronomy 7:1-6, 20:16-17, God calling for cruelty and even genocide against the Canaanites (mitzvot 596-598)
  • In the Book of Job God is shown to play idle games with Satan over the suffering of a pious man.

[edit] Historical and Literary Examples of Dystheistic Thought

While eutheism describes the orthodox belief of all or nearly all monotheistic religions, beliefs that might be termed "dystheistic" have nevertheless frequently been expressed in various cultures, often manifesting themselves in art and literature. While labels like "dystheistic", "misotheistic", or "maltheistic" may not have been used explicitly to describe moral criticism directed against God, these terms could be applied to many historical and literary examples:

  • The trickster gods that play a part in many polytheistic belief systems often have a dystheistic nature. One example is Eshu, a trickster God from Yoruba mythology who deliberately fostered violence between groups of people for his own amusement, saying that "causing strife is my greatest joy." But polytheism in general involves multiple deities that have good and evil aspects (some having both).
  • The early Gnostics believed that the God worshipped by Jews and Christians was really a demiurge that stood between us and some greater, more truly benevolent real God. The Gnostic Gospels were suppressed for many years by the established church. (Strictly speaking, the Gnostics believed that a good God existed beyond the demiurge, and that the demiurge was not God, therefore it's stretching the truth to call them dystheists.) Similarly, Marcionites held beliefs deemed maltheistic in nature, depicting the Old Testament God as a wrathful, genocidal, malicious demiurge.
  • John Milton's Paradise Lost is often cited as an apology of Satan's rebellion against a despotic God, suggesting that if God's supremacy is only justified by brute force, then Satan was justified in rebelling against God's tyranny.
  • Critics of Calvin's doctrines of predestination frequently argued that Calvin's doctrines did not successfully avoid describing God as "the author of evil."
  • Thomas Paine wrote in "The Age of Reason" that "whenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and torturous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness, with which more than half the Bible is filled, it would be more consistent that we called it the word of a demon than the word of God." But Paine's perspective was a deistic one, critical more of common beliefs about God than of God himself.
  • Emily Dickinson's poem "Apparently With No Surprise" depicts God as approving of suffering in the world, relating the tale of a flower "beheaded" by a late frost as the sun "measure[s] off another day for an approving God."
  • Algernon Swinburne, a controversial poet in Victorian era England, wrote in his epic poem Atalanta in Calydon:
“ Who turns the large limbs to a little flame
  And binds the great sea with a little sand;
Who makes desire, and slays desire with shame;
  Who shakes the heaven as ashes in his hand;
Who, seeing the light and shadow for the same,
  Bids day waste night as fire devours a brand,
Smites without sword, and scourges without rod;
  The supreme evil, God.

Yea, with thine hate, O God, thou hast covered us,
  One saith, and hidden our eyes away from sight.		 ”
“ It was his [God's] will that certain passions should be as strong and natural in man as the desire to breathe, and it was his teaching that [those passions] should be cut out as some Eastern tyrant might order the excision of a subject's heart and lungs. ”
“ All your Western theologies, the whole mythology of them, are based on the concept of God as a senile delinquent and, by God, I will not and cannot continue to conduct services in praise and worship of this, this... this... yeah, this angry, petulant old man. ”
  • In Jewish author Elie Wiesel's play, The Trial of God (1979) the survivors of a pogrom, in which most of the inhabitants of a 17th-century Jewish village were massacred, put God on trial for his cruelty and indifference to their misery. The play is based on an actual trial Wiesel participated in that was conducted by inmates of the Auschwitz concentration camp during the Nazi holocaust, but it also references a number of other incidents in Jewish history including a similar trial conducted by the Hasidic Rabbi Levi Yosef Yitzhak of Berdichev.
“ Men and women are being beaten, tortured and killed. True, they are victims of men. But the killers kill in God's name. Not all? True, but let one killer kill for God's glory, and God is guilty. Every person who suffers or causes suffering, every woman who is raped, every child who is tormented implicates Him. What, you need more? A hundred or a thousand? Listen, either he is responsible or he is not. If he is, let's judge him. If he is not, let him stop judging us. ”
  • Much of post-Holocaust theology, especially in Judaic theological circles, is devoted to a rethinking of God's goodness. Examples include the work of David R. Blumenthal, author of Facing the Abusing God (1993) and John K. Roth (whose essay "A Theology of Protest" is included in Robert Sutherland's 2006 book Putting God on Trial). This idea is echoed in writings from other religions, including Phillips (2005) as well as the modern fiction of Salman Rushdie and Anne Provoost:
“ Why would you trust a God that doesn't give us the right book? Throughout history, he's given the Jewish people a book, he's given the Christians a book, and he's given the Muslims books, and there are big similarities between these books, but there are also contradictions. ... He needs to come back and create clarity and not ... let us fight over who's right. He should make it clear. So, my personal answer to your question, "Should we trust [a God who can't get things right]," I wouldn't.[4] ”
  • Dystheistic sentiment has also made its way into popular music, evincing itself in controversial songs like "Dear God" by the band XTC (later covered by Sarah McLachlan) and "Blasphemous Rumours" by Depeche Mode, which tells the story of a teenage girl who attempted suicide, survived, and turned her life over to God, only to be hit by a car, wind up on life support, and eventually die:
“ I don't want to start any blasphemous rumours but I think that God's got a sick sense of humour, and when I die I expect to find him laughing. ”
The output of songwriter/composer Randy Newman also includes several songs expressing dystheistic sentiment, including the ironic "He Gives Us All His Love" and the more overtly maltheistic "God's Song (That's Why I Love Mankind)", both from his acclaimed 1972 album Sail Away. In the latter song, Newman bemoans the futility of dealing with a God whose attitude towards humanity is one of contempt and cruelty.
  • A number of science fiction stories present a dystheistic perspective. Most prominent is Lester del Rey's Evensong (included as the first story in Harlan Ellison's famous Dangerous Visions anthology), in which a fugitive God is hunted down across the universe by a vengeful humanity seeking to "put him in his place." Olaf Stapledon's influential novel Star Maker is another prime example. The original series of Star Trek had numerous episodes with dystheistic themes, in which the crew of the Enterprise sought to thwart powerful deities from exercising authoritarian control over people.
  • In 2006, Australian artist Archie Moore created a paper sculpture called "Maltheism", which was considered for a Telstra Art award in Australia during 2006. The piece was intended as a representation of a church made from pages of the Bible, specifically the Book of Deuteronomy (in which God exhorts the Israelites to commit genocide against the native inhabitants of Canaan).
  • Scientology believes that the thetan (analogous to the soul in common religious parlance) is a spirit imprisoned in a living human body and taught by force to constrain its natural impulses and abilities (cf. "total freedom") towards a set of goals imposed on the host body by malicious external forces. These external forces are what most humans call God; God is the one who constrains humanity by pushing down our natural spirit. Scientologists believe this and seek to liberate people from enslavement to the imposed engrams in their reactive minds through a dense mythology that subliminally gives narrative form to the supposedly sick insanity in which God engages, allowing believers to visualize and personify it, and eventually destroy it.

There is some room for ambiguous interpretation here, especially with respect to many of the artistic/literary expressions presented above, in that many of these examples can be (and have) been labeled examples of atheism rather than of dystheism or maltheism. If the sentiment arises from an atheistic perspective (as in "God does not exist, but if he did then he would be a monster based on…"), this is different from the perspective of one who believes God does exist and concludes that malevolence is a fundamental part of his nature. Many proponents of this sentiment in art and literature (e.g., Woody Allen, Salman Rushdie, George Carlin) are "lapsed" or secularized former believers who abandoned the eutheistic religions in which they had been brought up. It is unclear whether their abandonment of those religions represents an embracing of atheism, or a continuation of belief in God's existence coupled with a change of heart about his nature. While some atheists may assert that contradictions and paradoxes in theology and theodicy prove that God does not exist, ultimately they only prove that if God exists he is not of the form and nature usually attributed to him, that God still could exist and be evil. These examples come from a variety of people, many of whom straddle the fence between atheism and maltheism.

[edit] References

  1. ^ New English Dictionary, under miso-; in 1913 in Noah Webster's Dictionary of the English Language.
  2. ^ Naylor et al. (1994)
  3. ^ Schweitzer (2002); Schweitzer claims to have coined the word "misotheism" himself in this book, but the word seems to have originated with Thomas de Quincey (1785-1859) in his essay "On Christianity As An Organ of Political Movement".
  4. ^ Transcript of interview with Anne Provoost by Bill Moyers for Faith and Reason PBS TV series

[edit] Literature

  • Blumenthal, David R. (1993). Facing the Abusing God: A Theology of Protest. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1993, 348. ISBN 0-664-25464-0. 
  • Mark Mirabello, The Crimes of Jehovah (1997), ISBN 1884365132.
  • Naylor, Janet; Caroline Julian, Susan Pinsonneault (1994). GURPS Religion. Austin, TX: Steve Jackson Games, 1994, 176. ISBN 1-55634-202-0. 
  • Phillips, D. Z. (2005). The Problem of Evil and The Problem of God. Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Fortress, 2005, 280. ISBN 0-8006-3775-5. 
  • Provoost, Anne (2004). In the Shadow of the Ark. Minneapolis, MN: Arthur A. Levine, 2004, 384. ISBN 0-439-44234-6. 
  • Russell, Bertrand (1957). Why I Am Not A Christian. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 1957, 266. ASIN B000JX1TIK. 
  • Sutherland, Robert (2006). Putting God on Trial: The Biblical Book of Job. Victoria, BC: Trafford Publishing, 2006, 226. ISBN 1-4120-1847-1. 
  • Schweitzer, Bernard (2002). Rebecca West: Heroism, Rebellion, and the Female Epic. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2002, 184. ISBN 0-313-32360-7. 
  • Wiesel, Elie (1979). The Trial of God. New York, NY: Random House, 1979, 208. ISBN 0-8052-1053-9. 

[edit] See also

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