# Is there a word for \[people that hate religions\]? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 12, 2016, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-people-that-hate-religions/751993 "2016-04-12T10:57:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![JakeRS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3ab097/32.png) [@JakeRS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JakeRS)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2016, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-people-that-hate-religions/751993/1 "2016-04-12T10:57:32Z")
Is there a word for people that hate religions? For example there is racism which is hatred for different races, chauvinism - hatred for other nations (for example if a Italian hates a German, then that is chauvinism, not racism), sexism and many, many others, but what about hating a specific religion or all religions? There are people that are atheists, but respect other people’s religions, even though they obviously don’t agree with them, but there are also people that really hate some religions, regardless of whether they themselves are religious or not, so there has to be a word for that, but I don’t know what it is… ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2016, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-people-that-hate-religions/751993/2 "2016-04-12T11:10:07Z")
Nearest I can come up with is religiomisia, but I can find no proper etymology for it. Phobia doesn’t fit your definition really. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2016, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-people-that-hate-religions/751993/3 "2016-04-12T11:22:54Z")
only thing I can think of is “creedism” but that doesn’t seem to be accepted as a word. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2016, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-people-that-hate-religions/751993/4 "2016-04-12T11:35:22Z")
[Dawkinism](https://www.google.com/search?q=dawkinism&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=ubuntu&channel=fs&gws_rd=ssl)? ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2016, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-people-that-hate-religions/751993/5 "2016-04-12T11:40:37Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > [Dawkinism](https://www.google.com/search?q=dawkinism&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=ubuntu&channel=fs&gws_rd=ssl)? That’s a rather lazy dig isn’t it? You should know by now that Dawkins does not hate all religions. Anti-theist is probably a better word. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2016, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-people-that-hate-religions/751993/6 "2016-04-12T11:40:59Z")
[Misotheism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misotheism) is the closest, but will, strictly, exclude non-theistic religions. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2016, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-people-that-hate-religions/751993/7 "2016-04-12T11:45:06Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > That’s a rather lazy dig isn’t it? You should know by now that Dawkins does not hate all religions. And [Chauvin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolas_Chauvin)didn’t hate all nations. But we still use his name for nation-hate. ---
**Author:** ![Noel\_Prosequi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b19c9b/32.png) [@Noel\_Prosequi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noel_Prosequi)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2016, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-people-that-hate-religions/751993/8 "2016-04-12T13:34:38Z")
Anti-clericalism has historic provenance, but it’s context often meant anti-Catholicism. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2016, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-people-that-hate-religions/751993/9 "2016-04-12T13:49:08Z")
I lean toward “theophobia” for those who have an irrational or out-of-proportion fear or hatred of God, religion, etc., but I don’t think this is a standard term. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2016, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-people-that-hate-religions/751993/10 "2016-04-12T14:46:34Z")
Sane? ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2016, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-people-that-hate-religions/751993/11 "2016-04-12T14:50:22Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I lean toward “theophobia” for those who have an irrational or out-of-proportion fear or hatred of God, religion, etc., but I don’t think this is a standard term. It’s got [a wiki page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theophobia), for what that’s worth: > [@](#): > > Theophobia may be expressed as irrational fear, anger, hatred or other negative emotion toward religious practitioners. Theophobic representation may categorize the deity as being an arbitrary totalitarian dictator or contrariwise, as being not worthy of worship. I think either this or [“religiophobia”](http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/251231/would-religiophobia-be-an-accurate-word-for-dislike-of-religion-if-not-what-wo) is closest to what the OP’s asking about. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2016, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-people-that-hate-religions/751993/12 "2016-04-12T15:15:28Z")
Title edited to indicate subject. Please use descriptive thread titles. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2016, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-people-that-hate-religions/751993/13 "2016-04-12T15:34:04Z")
Are “respect” and “hate” the only options available? ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2016, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-people-that-hate-religions/751993/14 "2016-04-12T15:37:38Z")
Anti-theist? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2016, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-people-that-hate-religions/751993/15 "2016-04-12T16:19:31Z")
Chauvinist is often pressed into service. IIRC the word was used a lot to describe the strong Catholic & Protestant partisans during the Irish Troubles. Agree that word isn’t specific though. Also, strictly speaking, Chauvinism is not so much believing “Your specific group sucks!” as it is believing “My group rocks!”. There is a difference a profound one. Using the OP’s example … An Italian Chauvinist thinks all nationalities are beneath Italians. He may or may not have an opinion about Germans versus Frenchmen. If he’s specifically Anti-German but not especially pro-Italian he’s not a Chauvinist. He’s something else. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2016, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-people-that-hate-religions/751993/16 "2016-04-12T16:25:06Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > And [Chauvin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolas_Chauvin)didn’t hate all nations. But we still use his name for nation-hate. We have no idea what he did or didn’t hate as he was likely apocryphal, we _do_ have a clear idea of what Dawkins thinks and it is clearly not “hatred of all religions” And Chauvinism is not “nation-hate” but rather a belief in the superiority of your own nation. A different thing entirely. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2016, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-people-that-hate-religions/751993/17 "2016-04-12T16:38:36Z")
Racism and sexism are examples of a person from one race or sex hating people of other races or sexes. Not of someone who doesn’t have a race or sex hating anyone that does. So anti-theism, is the name of the latter phenomenon, while something like “sectarianism” would be the name of the former, more common version. ---
**Author:** ![Shamozzle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shamozzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shamozzle)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2016, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-people-that-hate-religions/751993/18 "2016-04-13T01:58:53Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Sane? Exactly. The first thing that came to my mind was “Smart”. ---
**Author:** ![excavating\_for\_a\_mind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e8c25b/32.png) [@excavating\_for\_a\_mind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/excavating_for_a_mind)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2016, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-people-that-hate-religions/751993/19 "2016-04-13T02:02:55Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Are “respect” and “hate” the only options available? It is, apparently, for Islamophobia or Homophobia. So, Theophobia would make sense. ---
**Author:** ![spamforbrains](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@spamforbrains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spamforbrains)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2016, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-people-that-hate-religions/751993/20 "2016-04-13T02:46:32Z")
Atheists don’t hate religions, they just laugh at and/or are appalled by the behavior of religious people quite often. I consider most religious people to be victims of child abuse. Hatred does not come into it. What kind of person hates “religion” in general? The fact that there doesn’t seem to be a word for it suggests these people might not exist. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-people-that-hate-religions/751993.md?page=2)