Dystheist

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A person who believes that God or a divine being is fundamentally evil or actively causes suffering in the world
2. Someone who holds the theological position that the deity responsible for creation is malicious or morally corrupt
3. An individual who rejects the goodness of God, arguing instead that any divine power must be hostile or destructive to humanity

Etymology: "Dystheist" is formed from the prefix "dys-", meaning "bad" or "ill" (from Greek "dys-", a counterpart to "eu-", "good"), attached to "theist," a believer in a god. The result describes someone who believes in a deity conceived as malevolent, cruel, or evil rather than benevolent. The construction follows a pattern familiar from words like "dyspeptic" (ill-digesting) and "dysfunctional." Because "theist" itself is built from the Greek "theos" (god), the new word sits neatly alongside "monotheist" and "polytheist," with the prefix doing the work of specifying the kind of god in question. It is a transparent coinage, so its meaning follows directly from its parts.