# What Is the Difference Between Antitheism and Atheism? > Atheist organizations say atheism is the lack of belief in gods. The Stanford Encyclopedia says an antitheist, in one common use, finds the idea of God offensive and hopes no such being exists, and that antitheism is not a variety of atheism. - Canonical: https://apologetics.wiki/atheism/antitheism-vs-atheism - Religions: none - Denominations: none - Beliefs: Atheism - Tags: atheism, antitheism, agnosticism - Updated: 2026-10-12 Atheism, in the words of atheist organizations, is the lack of belief in gods. Antitheism, in one sense the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy records, is the stance of someone who finds the idea of God offensive and hopes that no such being exists. Stanford says that stance is not a variety of atheism, because a person can hold it without being an atheist, and because the word is used in more than one way. This page is that distinction. The general question of whether God exists is [Is God Real?](/god/does-god-exist). ## Key Points - [American Atheists](https://atheists.org/what-is-an-atheist/) [(2)](#ref-2) say an atheist lacks a belief in gods. [What Do Atheists Believe?](/atheism/what-do-atheists-believe) quotes that page and the pages that add a further claim that no God exists. - The [Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy](https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/atheism-agnosticism/) [(1)](#ref-1) says “anti-God atheists” such as Thomas Nagel find the whole idea of a God offensive and hope very much that no such being exists. - The same paragraph says Nagel is often called an antitheist, that the encyclopedia avoids the word because it has many senses, and that “in none of those senses is one required to be an atheist in order to be an antitheist, so antitheism is not a variety of atheism.” - [What Is the Difference Between an Atheist and an Agnostic?](/agnosticism/atheist-vs-agnostic) is belief beside knowledge. An agnostic theist is one of the combinations that page sets out. Antitheism is not that pair. - The [Pew Research Center’s 2023–24 Religious Landscape Study](https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2025/02/26/religious-landscape-study-religious-identity/) [(3)](#ref-3), as quoted on [What Do Atheists Believe?](/atheism/what-do-atheists-believe), says 5 percent of Americans identify as atheist, inside a larger unaffiliated share. That is a self-description. - [John 1:1](/bible/john/1/1) [(4)](#ref-4) says the Word was God. [Psalm 14:1](/bible/psalms/14/1) [(5)](#ref-5) says the fool has said in his heart, there is no God. The psalm is about that saying. It is not a modern chart of atheism and antitheism. ## What Atheism Means on Their Pages [What Do Atheists Believe?](/atheism/what-do-atheists-believe) already quotes the organizations. American Atheists say an atheist lacks a belief in gods, and that atheism is not an affirmative belief that there are no gods. Atheist Alliance International says lacking belief does not entail believing that no gods exist, and that some people add that further claim. The Freedom From Religion Foundation says atheism is the lack of belief in a god or gods. Those sentences are the lack of belief, or, in the stronger form, the claim that God does not exist. They do not say that the idea of God is offensive, and they do not say the speaker hopes God does not exist. A person can lack the belief and have no further attitude toward the question. That is the range the organizations print. This page does not paste their paragraphs again. ## What Antitheism Adds The [Stanford Encyclopedia](https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/atheism-agnosticism/) [(1)](#ref-1) describes a further stance and then refuses to treat it as a type of atheism: > By contrast, anti-God atheists like Thomas Nagel (1997: 130–131) find the whole idea of a God offensive and hence not only believe but also hope very much that no such being exists. Nagel is often called an “antitheist” (e.g., Kahane 2011), but that term is purposely avoided here, as it has many different senses (Kahane 2011: note 9). Also, in none of those senses is one required to be an atheist in order to be an antitheist, so antitheism is not a variety of atheism. The paragraph does two things. It records a use of the word for someone who finds the idea of God offensive and hopes no such being exists. It then says the word has many senses, and that none of those senses requires the person to be an atheist. On that account, antitheism is an attitude toward God, or toward the idea of God, and atheism is a position about whether one believes a god exists. They can overlap. They are not the same claim, and one does not contain the other. This page does not quote a sentence from Christopher Hitchens or from Albert Einstein. Those lines circulate without a page of theirs opened here. The definition used above is the encyclopedia’s, and the atheist definition is the organizations’. ## Agnosticism, and the Question of God Agnosticism answers a different question: whether one claims to know. [What Is the Difference Between an Atheist and an Agnostic?](/agnosticism/atheist-vs-agnostic) sets the four combinations of belief and knowledge, including people who believe and do not claim to know. An agnostic theist is that combination, not an antitheist. [What Is Agnosticism?](/agnosticism/what-is-agnosticism) is the organizations’ and the encyclopedia’s wording for the knowledge question. [Is God Real?](/god/does-god-exist) is the Christian argument that God is the one on whom everything that exists depends. The Christian confession is that Jesus is God. [John 1:1](/bible/john/1/1) [(4)](#ref-4) says the Word was with God, and the Word was God. [Psalm 14:1](/bible/psalms/14/1) [(5)](#ref-5) says, “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.” The verse names that saying. It does not sort atheism, agnosticism, and antitheism into modern types, and this page does not pretend that it does. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What Are the Seven Types of Atheism? “Seven Types of Atheism” is the title of a book. The organizations and the Stanford Encyclopedia, as quoted on this site, do not divide atheism into seven types. This page uses their definitions: lack of belief, the further claim that no God exists, and the separate word antitheism for an attitude the encyclopedia refuses to file as a kind of atheism. ### Does Atheism Reject Religion? The American Atheists sentence quoted on [What Do Atheists Believe?](/atheism/what-do-atheists-believe) is about gods, not a checklist of practices. Antitheism, in the Stanford paragraph, is aimed at the idea of God. A rejection of every religious practice is a third claim. These pages do not treat it as the definition of either word. ### Is Atheism Growing? [What Do Atheists Believe?](/atheism/what-do-atheists-believe) quotes the Pew Research Center’s 2023–24 study: about 29 percent of Americans are religiously unaffiliated, including 5 percent who identify as atheist, and the unaffiliated share was 16 percent in 2007 and 23 percent in 2014. Those are self-descriptions. They are not a count of antitheists. ### What Did Einstein Say About Atheists? This page does not quote him. The sentences checked here are the Stanford paragraph and the atheist organizations’ definitions. ### Do Atheists Support LGBTQ People? Atheism, on the pages quoted here, is not a church with a teaching on that question. The definitions are about belief in gods and, for antitheism, about an attitude toward the idea of God. They do not print a position on sexuality. ## Passages Quoted on This Page ### John 1:1 King James Version. > In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ### Psalms 14:1 King James Version. > The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good. ## Sources Numbered to match the HTML References list. Item 1 is `#ref-1` under `#references`. Scripture links to the King James Version on this site. 1. [Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Atheism and Agnosticism, Definitions of atheism](https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/atheism-agnosticism/) (The encyclopedia’s paragraph on anti-God atheists and why it avoids the word antitheism.) 2. [American Atheists, What is an atheist?, Definition](https://atheists.org/what-is-an-atheist/) (An atheist lacks a belief in gods. The comparison with agnosticism is on the other page.) 3. [Pew Research Center, Religious Landscape Study, Religious identity, 2023–24](https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2025/02/26/religious-landscape-study-religious-identity/) (Self-identification. Quoted at length on What Do Atheists Believe?) 4. [Gospel of John, 1:1](https://apologetics.wiki/bible/john/1/1). King James Version 5. [Book of Psalms, 14:1](https://apologetics.wiki/bible/psalms/14/1). King James Version ## See Also - [What Is the Difference Between an Atheist and an Agnostic?](https://apologetics.wiki/agnosticism/atheist-vs-agnostic) — Atheism is about belief. Agnosticism is about knowledge. A person can be an agnostic atheist or an agnostic theist. Christians say God has made himself known. - [Did Jesus Really Exist?](https://apologetics.wiki/christianity/did-jesus-exist) — Yes. Jesus of Nazareth was crucified under Pontius Pilate. Paul, the Gospels, Tacitus, and Josephus all place him there, and a skeptic who rejects the resurrection still says the man was real. - [What Do Atheists Argue Against God?](https://apologetics.wiki/atheism/what-do-atheists-argue-against-god) — Atheist writers argue from a lack of good reasons to believe, and from suffering. This page is that case in their words, then the Christian claim. - [What Do Atheists Believe?](https://apologetics.wiki/atheism/what-do-atheists-believe) — Atheist organizations say atheism is the lack of belief in gods. Some atheists also claim that no God exists. Those are different positions. - [Does Archaeology Confirm the Bible?](https://apologetics.wiki/christianity/does-archaeology-confirm-the-bible) — The Pilate stone, the Tel Dan stele, Hezekiah’s tribute on the Taylor Prism, the Siloam tunnel inscription, and the Cyrus Cylinder name people and events the Bible also names. Each find has a limit.