FAQ: Why Do Pantheists Use The Term “God” To Refer To Nature or the Universe?

Pantheists do not believe in a theistic (supernatural, creator, conductor, personal) God. Despite this, Scientific Pantheists use the term god to refer to the Universe and Nature its entirety. Classical Pantheists use the term god to refer to the Omniverse in its entirety and all the nature found in the Omniverse.

Many Scientific and Classical Pantheists prefer not to use the term “God” to avoid confusion and misunderstanding due to people’s inclination to interpret the word “God” in a theistic and mostly Abrahamic context.

When a Scientific Pantheist uses the word god to refer to the universe they do so to show their profound sense of awe and reverence towards the universe and Nature.

When a Classical Pantheist uses the word god to refer to the omniverse they do so to show their profound sense of awe, love, respect, admiration and possible reverence towards everything in the omniverse including the universe and nature and anything else that ever existed or exists .

These emotions and sense of respect, appreciation and awe are the same feelings theistic believers have towards their God/gods.

The term “God” to a Pantheist expresses the powerful emotions they feel similar to that emotion some theists feel when using the term “God”.  Thus, “God” here is the adjective, it refers to the feelings that theistic religions attribute to God.

When a Pantheist equates the Omniverse or universe to god, she gives it a status of a god in the sense that it awakens in her some (if not all the) feelings of awe, wonder, love, acceptance, mystery, love, respect, respect and gratitude.

Read more: the Pantheist God, the Pantheist Universe, FAQ: How is the Omniverse Similar to the Abrahamic God?, FAQ: But Who Created the Universe?, FAQ: Why is Pantheism not Theistic?,  FAQ: What’s an Omniverse?

Updated: December 20, 2010

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