# What is the word... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 16, 2004, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-word/255453 "2004-07-16T17:52:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2004, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-word/255453/1 "2004-07-16T17:52:51Z")
for people who discriminate on the basis of religion? Like racists, only not. Well? ---
**Author:** ![FordPrefect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e99b99/32.png) [@FordPrefect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordPrefect)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2004, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-word/255453/2 "2004-07-16T18:19:42Z")
Theists? šŸ˜‰ I just use the term intolerant, I canā€™t say that I have heard of a word that means that specifically. ---
**Author:** ![Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f0a364/32.png) [@Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rube_E.Tewesday)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2004, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-word/255453/3 "2004-07-16T18:21:31Z")
ā€œReligious bigotā€ is the term that comes to mind. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2004, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-word/255453/4 "2004-07-16T18:36:33Z")
[Bigot:](http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=bigot&r=67) > [@](#): > > A person who regards his own faith and views in matters of religion as unquestionably right, and any belief or opinion opposed to or differing from them as unreasonable or wicked. In an extended sense, a person who is intolerant of opinions which conflict with his own, as in politics or morals; one obstinately and blindly devoted to his own church, party, belief, or opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2004, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-word/255453/5 "2004-07-16T18:52:22Z")
**FordPrefect** , the same (joking) answer had occured to me. Thank you, **Diogenes**! For some reason ā€œbigotā€ to me had always meant a more sort of general intolerance; like you could be a bigot about everything. Not just religion. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2004, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-word/255453/6 "2004-07-16T18:56:15Z")
Someone might wish to propose _Fundamentalist_, but I would argue against that usage. While a Fundamentalist certainly has a clearly defined definition of the correctness of their religious views, I have known many Fundamentalists who have not held the closed-minded perspective that any differing views were selected from perverse or wicked motives or that their own views were unassailable. (The fact that a certain number of Fundamentalists loudly display a certain amount of bigotry is not sufficient to make the terms interchangeable; there are Fundamentalists who are moderate in their approach to the world and their are other religious persons (progressives, liberals, or whatever term one might apply to them) who can be quite stridently bigoted in their views. I think that _(religious) bigot_ is probably the best term for the OPā€™s question. ---
**Author:** ![adirondack\_mike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5a626/32.png) [@adirondack\_mike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adirondack_mike)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2004, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-word/255453/7 "2004-07-16T18:59:26Z")
> [@FordPrefect](#): > > Theists? šŸ˜‰ or Atheists? šŸ˜‰ ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2004, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-word/255453/8 "2004-07-16T20:10:37Z")
Since the word ā€œbigotā€ has extended its meaning beyond religion, you could use the ohrase ā€œreligious bigotā€. Sometimes there isnā€™t a single word for what you want to describe. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2004, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-word/255453/9 "2004-07-16T21:42:16Z")
Sectarian??? ---
**Author:** ![factorial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ed8c4c/32.png) [@factorial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/factorial)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2004, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-word/255453/10 "2004-07-16T22:46:50Z")
Zealot works too. It is derived from ā€œa member of an ancient Jewish sect in Judea in the first century who fought to the death against the Romans and who killed or persecuted Jews who collaborated with the Romansā€ ([Princeton](http://www.cogsci.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/webwn?stage=1&word=zealot)). ---
**Author:** ![FordPrefect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e99b99/32.png) [@FordPrefect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordPrefect)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2004, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-word/255453/11 "2004-07-17T06:35:52Z")
> [@adirondack\_mike](#): > > or Atheists? > > šŸ˜‰ Only if you mean strong atheists, us weak atheists donā€™t discriminate. šŸ†’ ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2004, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-word/255453/12 "2004-07-17T08:24:55Z")
Itā€™s obvious that a new word must be coinedā€¦ So take the usual anti-discrimination affirmation - ā€œWe do not discriminate by race, sex, or creedā€¦ā€ So the opposite would beā€¦ Racist Sexist and CREEDIST! Thank you! _Takes a bow!_