# God v Devil **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 27, 2015, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-v-devil/735876 "2015-10-27T15:02:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![WNYOKIE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/73ab20/32.png) [@WNYOKIE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WNYOKIE)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2015, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-v-devil/735876/1 "2015-10-27T15:02:09Z")
Hi…if we call someone who doesn’t believe in God an atheist, what do we call someone who doesn’t believe in the devil? ---
**Author:** ![Cyros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a698b9/32.png) [@Cyros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyros)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2015, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-v-devil/735876/2 "2015-10-27T15:05:46Z")
What do we call someone who does believe in the devil? If we take that word we can add the prefix ‘a’ to it. Personally I’m not aware of a word indicating that someone believes in the devil in the same way that theist means someone who believes in a god. I’d immediately rule out a word like satanist as it carries connotations of worship. I would assume that a large percentage of Christians would believe in Satan without worshiping him and so Satanist would not apply to their belief. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2015, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-v-devil/735876/3 "2015-10-27T15:09:07Z")
The a- theism applies to all Gods, gods, demigods, demiurges, demons, devils, most spirits, and usually all supernatural beings. There are any number of religions which do not include that whole Ahriman vs Ahura Mazda style opposition of deities. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2015, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-v-devil/735876/4 "2015-10-27T15:09:28Z")
First off - an atheist has no belief in ‘gods’ - not just “doesn’t believe in God”\*. - Since many consider the devil to be a ‘god’ - atheist fits just fine for the non-belief in it. secondly - the devil would be a ‘supernatural’ critter by all accounts - and there isn’t a specific term for people that don’t believe in the supernatural (that I am aware of). \*distinction here is that the OP appears to be specifying a very specific “God”, not just the generic term of ‘gods’. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2015, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-v-devil/735876/5 "2015-10-27T15:13:31Z")
I don’t know what we call someone who doesn’t believe in the devil, but obviously they’ve never been married and never played golf. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2015, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-v-devil/735876/6 "2015-10-27T18:44:53Z")
I think that the OP is referring to people who don’t believe in the Devil, but _do_ believe in God. ---
**Author:** ![Tatterdemalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/43a26b/32.png) [@Tatterdemalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tatterdemalion)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2015, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-v-devil/735876/7 "2015-10-27T18:54:17Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I think that the OP is referring to people who don’t believe in the Devil, but _do_ believe in God. Unitarians. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2015, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-v-devil/735876/8 "2015-10-27T20:15:52Z")
Atheist comes from the Greek _theos_, meaning god. The Greek word for devil is _diabolos_. Therefore the equivalent word would be adiabolist. And indeed, [wiktionary](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/adiabolist) lists this as an “obsolete” word. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2015, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-v-devil/735876/9 "2015-10-27T21:12:29Z")
> [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#): > > Atheist comes from the Greek _theos_, meaning god. The Greek word for devil is _diabolos_. Therefore the equivalent word would be adiabolist. > > And indeed, [wiktionary](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/adiabolist) lists this as an “obsolete” word. And so someone who does not believe in the Garden of Even creation story would be adamant? Evasive? ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-v-devil/735876/10 "2015-10-28T00:31:52Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > And so someone who does not believe in the Garden of Even creation story would be adamant? Evasive? Or asnakeinthegrassist? ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-v-devil/735876/11 "2015-10-28T00:37:14Z")
> [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#): > > Atheist comes from the Greek _theos_, meaning god. The Greek word for devil is _diabolos_. Therefore the equivalent word would be adiabolist. > > And indeed, [wiktionary](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/adiabolist) lists this as an “obsolete” word. The OED lists it as “rare” rather than obsolete, and has a cite from 1945 (from the _Sewanee Review_). ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-v-devil/735876/12 "2015-10-28T00:47:44Z")
> [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#): > > Atheist comes from the Greek _theos_, meaning god. The Greek word for devil is _diabolos_. Therefore the equivalent word would be adiabolist. If you want to argue what the word is or _ought to be_ basic on logical etymologies, this would be it, or close. It could not be right to add a- to Satanist to get asatanist, since Satan isn’t a word of Greek origin to begin with. (It’s Hebrew.) ---
**Author:** ![GoodOmens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@GoodOmens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GoodOmens)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-v-devil/735876/13 "2015-10-28T14:08:58Z")
But blending word roots of different sources is OK. I heard that on television. ---
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-v-devil/735876/14 "2015-10-28T16:28:06Z")
Great. It must be true, then. But what if you read it on the internet? What about if you heard it on the telephone? Also true?