help with a word

[The Tree]

what is the word for a person who is not just a non believer in god but also against religion.i heard a guy on a programme say it recently but he said it so quick i didnt catch it.cheers

[jno]

secularist? humanist?

[GruntFuttock]

Atheist

[Quizmonster]

Antitheist. An atheist simply denies the existence of a God/god, whilst an antitheist is positively against all things religious.

[GruntFuttock]

Never seen that word before QM-you're right of course-after googling the small amount of philosophical discourse available, it appears that it means 'aggresive atheism'

[Quizmonster]

Same here, GF, except that I, like the questioner, heard the reference on a recent TV programme, too. I'm trying to remember the name of the man who said it. It wasn't Richard Dawkins himself, but possibly was someone he interviewed during his recent series. Certainly, he is an English philosopher living in the USA.
Whoever it was, it's an apt word.

[Quizmonster]

I just did a quick Google-scan and find that it was Jonathan Miller, in his recent series, 'Atheism' and the interviewee was the philosopher Colin McGinn. He it was who claimed to be an 'antitheist'. The word itself has been around since the early 19th century, actually.