Nonthesim

In principle, there is no difference and should be no difference between nontheism and atheism. Nontheism means not believing in any gods, which is the same as the broad definition of atheism. The prefixes "a-" and "non-" mean exactly the same thing: not, without, lacking. Each belief system agrees that there are no deities that created or control mankind. Essentially the belief is that man is on their own and will not be helped by a higher power.


Some seem to read nontheist as a synonym for atheist, which is unfortunate. Nontheist seems to be a new word. Some of its earliest uses have been by those who feel a deep and genuine attachment to something they choose to call God, but who feel a need to reject traditional understandings of what God is. So, I would put forth that a nontheist is someone who does not accept a theistic understanding of God. Such a person may reject all understandings of God, may embrace certain non-theistic understandings of God, may find God language useful and rich in trying to describe their experience of the world but not true in a literal sense, may believe in certain non-material, transcendent realities that have little in common with the common understanding of the word “God.” An atheist falls within this understanding of nontheist, as does Quakers who find the whole practice of labeling our belief systems an unfortunate distraction from genuine religious living.


Nontheism or non-theism is a range of both religious and nonreligious attitudes characterized by the absence of espoused belief in a God or gods. Nontheism has generally been used to describe silence towards the subject of God and differs from an antithetical, explicit atheism. Nontheism does not necessarily describe atheism or disbelief in God; it has been used as an umbrella term for summarizing various distinct and even mutually exclusive positions.

Within the scope of nontheistic agnosticism, Philosopher Anthony Kenny distinguishes between agnostics who find the claim "God exists" uncertain and theological noncognitivists who consider all discussion of God to be meaningless. Some agnostics, however, are not nontheists but rather agnostic theists. Other related philosophical opinions about the existence of deities are ignosticism and skepticism. Because of the various definitions of the term God, a person could be an atheist in terms of certain conceptions of gods, while remaining agnostic in terms of others.



WHEN DID NONTHEISM START?

While the term may seem new nontheism is actually a very old word. The earliest usage of non-theism may be from George Holyoake in 1852.
According to Holyoake:

Mr. [Charles] Southwell has taken an objection to the term Atheism. We are glad he has. We have disused it a long time [...]. We disuse it, because Atheist is a worn-out word. Both the ancients and the moderns have understood by it one without God, and also without morality.

Thus the term connotes more than any well-informed and earnest person accepting it ever included in it; that is, the word carries with it associations of immorality, which have been repudiated by the Atheist as seriously as by the Christian. Non-theism is a term less open to the same misunderstanding, as it implies the simple non-acceptance of the Theist's explanation of the origin and government of the world.

George Holyoake at least adopted a positive-to-neutral attitude. Today, usage of nontheism is more likely to be accompanied by a hostile attitude towards atheism: people insist that nontheism and atheism cannot mean the same things and that while atheism is dogmatic and fundamentalist, nontheism is open-minded and reasonable. It's the same sort of argument heard from people who are convinced that agnosticismis the only "rational" position to have. It's generally preferable to be respectful towards others beliefs even if they are different from your own.