#akosmism

noun: From the Greek negative prefix, a- (the alpha privative, equivalent to our un- and its variants) plus kosmos (cosmos, universe), the Greeks formed the term akosmismus to denote the theory that denies to the universe any absolute reality or any existence apart from God. It is the opposite of pantheism (PAN thee iz'm)—from the Greek prefix pan-, the combining form of pan, neuter of pas (all), plus theos (god)—the doctrine that identifies God with the universe or claims that God is only the combined forces of the universe as they manifest themselves. Pantheism has another distinct meaning—the worship of gods of various beliefs without distinction, as opposed to theism, belief in the existence of a god or gods, or monotheism, the doctrine that there is one God, the creator of mankind and the world, who transcends yet remains within the world. We are familiar with atheism, which opposes all the foregoing doctrines, denying the existence of any god. We must not omit mention of polytheism—from the Greek polys (many) plus theos—which denotes the worship of several gods, as practiced in ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome and many other early cultures. Polytheism, in some cultures, also involved the creation of a family relationship among these various gods through a kind of anthropomorphism, attributing quite human emotions and behavior to them, resulting in a rather cozy relationship between mankind and its pantheon. The same goes for allotheism, the worship of foreign, strange or unsanctioned gods, which is forbidden by the First Commandment.