ietsism

[maximka]

Term: "ietsism" (also "ietsist", "ietsistic")

Your definition or explanation: Believing in unnamed God or supreme force; not being an atheist and at the same time not being a believer in classical Gods or follower of any of known religions.

Example:
Ietsism ("somethingism") is an unspecified belief in some higher force. In some Eastern European censuses (Albanian, for example), those having ietsistic beliefs are counted as believers without religion.


One or more places you have seen the term:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ietsism

http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=1926009

IETSISM AS AN UNDERLYING FORM OF MODERN YOUTH'S RELIGION ("Ietsism" in an article in Russian)


Have you looked for this term or meaning in dictionaries?
Yes

Have you found it?
No

 

[Quoth]

I can certainly see the need for a word with this meaning!

Thank you.

 

[JamesM]

How is this different from a Deist?

 

[maximka]

How is this different from a Deist?

I found in one discussion an interesting (in my opinion) description about the difference:

“The Deist believes in God, but does not believe that God after having once created the World, continues to govern it.

And the Istist intuitively believes in the Supreme Power, which at its discretion is capable to make changes in everything in our life”.

 

[JamesM]

Hmm... so how is a Ietsist different from a Theist?

 

[Myridon]

Hmm... so how is a Ietsist different from a Theist?

A theist believes in a Supreme Being (or Beings). A ietsist just believes that there is "something" beyond what we know.
Ietsism - Wikipedia

The name derives from the Dutch equivalent of the question: "Do you believe in the conventional 'Christian' God?", a typical ietsist answer being "No, but there must be something", "something" being iets in Dutch.

 

[JamesM]

Ah! Thanks. That's really very interesting that there is such a word.

 

[Damontae]

Such a cool word.

 

[much_rice]

A ietsist just believes that there is "something" beyond what we know.

Surely everyone believes there are things beyond what we know? Otherwise we'd cut all funding to the universities.

The Wiki article says "[Ietsists believe] there must be something undefined beyond the mundane and that which can be known or can be proven."

I'm curious about it having to be undefined. I've never heard the term before this very thread. Does the ietsist move agnostically through life, awaiting the moment when something definitely spiritual happens so that he loses his ietsism and becomes some kind of believer? Or is it a species of gnosticism where you're certain that the ultimate reality is indefinable (by humans)?

 

[Jimbob_Disco]

Surely everyone believes there are things beyond what we know? Otherwise we'd cut all funding to the universities.

The Wiki article says "[Ietsists believe] there must be something undefined beyond the mundane and that which can be known or can be proven."

I'm curious about it having to be undefined. I've never heard the term before this very thread. Does the ietsist move agnostically through life, awaiting the moment when something definitely spiritual happens so that he loses his ietsism and becomes some kind of believer? Or is it a species of gnosticism where you're certain that the ultimate reality is indefinable (by humans)?

I don't think that ietsism should be aligned to agnosticism. After all, agnosticism is in effect the willingness to become a theist or atheist if given empirical proof either way. However, I would argue that an ietsist does have an absolute belief in something beyond, however it cannot be likened to theism or deism as there is no specified deity, which is essential to theist/deist beliefs. It seems to me to be a term in its own right that completely deserves a place in the WR dictionary.

 

[Myridon]

Surely everyone believes there are things beyond what we know? Otherwise we'd cut all funding to the universities.

I hope that you're deliberately trying to be funny. "Beyond what we know" is not merely unknown. I was paraphrasing that exact sentence which you are using to "refute" me.

 

[velisarius]

I'd never heard of "ietsism", but if it's a new term for the vague and uncommitted "spiritual but not religious" stance that so many people seem to adopt nowadays, perhaps it is the new "deism". It isn't a very catchy word though, and rather difficult to pronounce in English.
I can see it being used to describe others, but who would own up to being a "ietsist"?

I'd like to see some evidence of its being used in English "in the wild" (other than in definitions that is).