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Reading Wikipedia, I learnt

  • Agnosticism is the view that the existence of God, of the divine or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable.
    Comment: Am I correct if I say an agnostics would say: "I don't know whether God exists or not."?
  • Atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities.

What would someone be called if he/she :

  • believes God or some power or deity created the universe in some point of time, and

  • afterwards disappeared

  • so, there is no one to judge you for your sins or good karma, except maybe your or mine government or international organisations. So good karma gives medals, honorariums, prizes, etc. Bad karma gives punishments, fines, getting listed in criminal lists, etc.

TL;DR :

One word for people believing that God once existed and created everything and then disappeared leaving the universe in our hands?

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    By "disappeared", what do you mean? God is just being "made off"? Or God literally no longer exists?
    – BruceWayne
    Feb 7, 2021 at 19:43
  • ok wow sorry that's a typo, I meant "hands off"! Sorry about that!
    – BruceWayne
    Feb 8, 2021 at 1:41
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    Isn't this equivalent to a clockwork god?
    – DKNguyen
    Feb 8, 2021 at 2:22
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    @BruceWayne I don't think I mean "hands off" here. English is not my first language. Also, I have just started Philosophy. Dictionary says "hands off" means "not involving or requiring direct involvement or intervention". Going by that definition "hands off" might imply: God doesn't intervene or want to intervene, but He exists. In my case, I want to express a situation that He doesn't exist anymore. I think I might want to say: God has died or is powerless to intervene. So, God can't instead of God doesn't or doesn't want to.
    – Severus Snape
    Feb 8, 2021 at 2:32
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    Okay so you mean god really is gone.
    – DKNguyen
    Feb 8, 2021 at 3:13

5 Answers 5

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"Theothanatologists" - For more information see Wikipedia.

The Death of God movement is sometimes technically referred to as theothanatology, deriving from the Greek theos (God) and thanatos (death).

E.g.

Blake refused to view the crucifixion of Jesus as a simple bodily death, and, rather, saw in this event a kenosis, a self-emptying of God.

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    I see a distinction between "dead" vs "not around any more" or "not paying any attention to us". This definition clearly addresses the former, but might the latter be something else? The fact that this term is derived from the word "death" suggests it might not apply to the "alive but not listening" case. I guess how well this term applies to the OPs case is a matter of what they meant by "disappeared".
    – CryptoFool
    Feb 7, 2021 at 18:44
  • This answer is very helpful, though, I would really appreciate another word on "not paying attention to us" if there is one. I didn't think about it earlier :-D @Steve
    – Severus Snape
    Feb 7, 2021 at 18:46
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    @Steve The example given in the post, of the belief that Jesus was real and divine, and sacrificed eternal life for our sake, seems pretty far from atheism to me. Granted, it doesn't make any strong claims about the future, but understanding our world as a purely natural one vs believing in the existence of powers beyond our comprehension that for some reason died (on our behalf or otherwise) seem like very different understandings of how the world works and what is possible.
    – BThompson
    Feb 7, 2021 at 21:55
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    Based on the fact that a word exists for it... yes?
    – BThompson
    Feb 7, 2021 at 22:15
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    Ok...you're right. I'm making this a XY problem. It's a fine word, with a fine definition. Forgive me. Still..we're just talking here, right? ;)
    – CryptoFool
    Feb 7, 2021 at 22:17
18

What you describe is view of some deists who see God as observing humanity but not directly intervening in our lives - for more information see Wikipedia.

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    I'm not sure if there is a more specific name for this belief. Its not very prominent on the English version of Wikipedia, but its right in the second sentence of the Polish version.
    – PawełT
    Feb 7, 2021 at 18:43
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    What you say suggests that God could be indrectly intervening. What's the distinction between directly and indirectly, in your view? I can't see how there can be one. God is either "hands on" or not. - I see that the Wikipedia article you cite uses the word "indirectly" just once. It never uses the word "directly", or tries in any way to define the difference between the two.
    – CryptoFool
    Feb 7, 2021 at 20:48
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    For the case of G/god(s) not paying attention any more, I think deism is as close a fit as you'll find. Rejecting revelation as a valid source of knowledge wouldn't make much sense if they believed omnipotent beings were still in contact with humanity
    – BThompson
    Feb 7, 2021 at 21:36
  • @Steve I agree if your god is omnipotent and omniscient because then it doesn't matter whether you take direct, indirect, straightforward, roundabout or circuitous means because you will always succeed and you know you will succeed.
    – DKNguyen
    Feb 8, 2021 at 2:26
  • @DKNguyen - Couldn't have said it any better myself :)
    – CryptoFool
    Feb 8, 2021 at 3:00
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Deism

The belief in a supreme being who is a creator who does not intervene in the universe.

After establishing natural laws and setting the cosmos in motion, God stepped away.

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3

I offer absentee god

It was the first thing that occurred to me and there is evidence for its use.

The theology that has ruled Christendom for fifteen centuries is builded on the conception of an “ absentee God , " a God outside of , detached from , far away from his world. Google Books search - absentee god

Further examples of absentee god

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"Deist" is the closest I can think of.

The 18th Century Deists believed that God created the universe, then basically withdrew from managing it.

Not convincing, but that was their basic belief.

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  • Thanks @DanielWilson Two persons have already mentioned about Deism in their answers though.
    – Severus Snape
    Feb 10, 2021 at 16:53
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    Sorry, I was reading too fast ... while on a conference call.
    – Daniel Wilson
    Feb 10, 2021 at 16:58

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