The Missing Theism

Imagine you're a Catholic sitting in a church pew on Sunday morning. It's a plausible assumption that everyone attending Mass with you shares your faith. You're all Catholics, part of the same religious group. But in reality, the person next to you may not believe exactly what you do. You might not feel strongly about abstaining from meat on Fridays—maybe just during Lent. Someone else may not value confession, and another might not consider attending every Mass essential. And yet, despite these differences, you all confidently identify as Catholics.

Now, most—or at least many—Christians believe they are part of one larger group: Christians. But within that umbrella, there are Protestants, Lutherans, Methodists, and more. Many even believe that Mormons and Christians worship the same Jesus. So despite a wide range of beliefs and practices, they still feel united as God-fearing people. Even within each denomination, beliefs vary in strength and interpretation. Yet they all continue to identify under the same label: Christian.

Let’s expand the lens to Judaism—the foundation of the Christian faith, which shares much of the Old Testament. Most Christians and Jews believe they worship the same God and often feel a spiritual kinship. Within Judaism itself, there are many differences in belief and practice, yet Orthodox and non-Orthodox Jews still believe they all belong to the same faith. Christians and Jews alike feel they worship the God of Moses.

Expanding further to Islam, we find many shared stories and figures between the Bible and the Quran. It's reasonable to infer that the monotheistic God worshiped in Islam is the same God of Abraham. Christians, Jews, and Muslims alike see themselves as God-fearing children of a single divine origin.

Hindus believe in many gods and share a common belief that the universe is governed by higher powers, and that we should live by moral and spiritual codes. Buddhists, meanwhile, focus on achieving higher alignment with the universe and reaching total consciousness.

No two people across that entire spectrum agree on everything, yet they still feel they belong to a group. From this, we can conclude that disagreement—even disbelief in certain tenets—doesn’t necessarily exclude you from a religion.

One day, as I pondered all this, I had a revelation: there are monotheists, polytheists, atheists, and agnostics. But one is missing—the Alltheist. The Alltheist believes in everything!

One might object, “You can’t believe in everything—you have to choose! You should believe what I believe.” But the problem is, no two people agree. So if disagreement is allowed, why not full-spectrum belief? If we can cherry pick within any one or more religions, why not order from the buffet! It’s the perfect loophole. And unlike the Atheist, the Alltheist – gets invited to all the parties!

When someone seeks understanding and tries to form their beliefs, they’re often overwhelmed by the sheer number of religions, their contradictions, and the hypocrisy and conflict between them. They may find they don’t align with any single one and end up identifying as an Atheist—often unfairly associated with godlessness or a lack of a moral compass.

But the Alltheist flips the script. Anyone not an Alltheist disbelieves most of what the Alltheist believes. In fact, anyone who belongs to a single religion is, by default, an atheist to the rest. The Alltheist hedges their bets—and doesn’t need to strictly follow any single tradition. Which, frankly, aligns with how many people practice their faith anyway.

And if there is a God that loves us all, it would only make sense that He'd be an Alltheist.