An Anti-Theist I Am Not

Do I disagree with theism? Yes. Do I oppose it? Usually. Do I consider myself an anti-theist? No. An anti-theist I am not.

"Anti-theism is active and vocal opposition to belief in gods of any sort and to institutions built around belief in a deity. Anti-theists are not passive atheists; they delight in atheism and delight in exposing the errors, absurdities, and pretensions of theists."
http://www.skepdic.com/antitheism.html

This seems to summarize how anti-theism is generally defined.

Theism is a very broad term covering countless interpretations of God, being an anti-theist would place me in opposition to belief in gods of "any" sort, which I am not. The vaguer the definition of God a person gives and the less certain a person is with their belief, the less against it I find myself to be. To one person God may be the first cause, to another person the universe or nature, to another person it can be some unknown. Why would I have a problem with people investing belief in the concept when presented as such especially when they claim no certainty to it? What real harm could come from that? I may think it is a waste of time and a belief not worth investing in but against it? No.

Theism becomes a problem when individuals and organized religion clearly define what their God is, when they pretend to know what their God wants, and when the belief in God supersedes the verifiable. Once they do this they leave their God open to a bombardment of reasoning which renders their God impossible. The devil is in the details; the arch nemesis of theism. This is the type of theism I am against.

I am an atheist and I am not against theism in its entirety. I may express anti-theistic sentiments to particular gods and institutions; nevertheless, an anti-theist I am not.

The Light

There is a light you cannot see.
A blinding light called clarity.
And if you choose to close your eyes,
there comes a voice "You will die."
The light is might.
It's never wrong.
It's always right.
It sings the same songs
of triumph over all.
With all the answers to life,
united in a fictitious paradise.
This life I lived in a blinding light.
I turned it off to save my sight.

The Devil–all he ever wanted

It is recorded that the devil inflicted pain on to one man and killed ten members of his family with God's consent in order to prove that men only worshipped God because he bribed them. Not only did God put this man through a guilt trip when it seemed the devil’s plan was working, he later rewarded his faithfulness with a bribe, which only reinforced the devil’s initial accusation.

In another story a snake, which many believers teach was the devil in disguise, convinced a human to disobey God. He told the newly created human that if she disobeyed the stipulation their creator gave them, she would be like God, knowing the good and bad. She went along with it and some time later convinced her husband to disobey God's petty order as well. When God realized what happened, he became infuriated and the three of them were scolded and condemned.

All the devil really wanted was to be like his dad, to have what he had, without holding out and without the hypocrisy. But alas, to be like God is evil. It is so vile that you are banished and branded a traitor, an adversary. What does that tell you about Yahweh's character? If he is so great, how could the one angel that most resembles him be so terrible?

The devil exposed a tyrant who relied on bribes and coercion for others to love him. The devil encouraged others to use their free will. The devil is the hero of these stories.

You don’t like the spin I gave these stories? Too bad, what I did is not much different than what most people do with these allegorical stories anyway. A good sense of humour and imagination goes a long way.

Amen. :)-