Dystheism
the belief that a god, goddess, or singular God is not wholly good and is possibly evil
Dystheism (from Ancient Greek: δυσ-, romanized: dus-, lit. 'bad'; θεός, theos, 'god') is the belief that a god is not wholly good and can even be considered evil. Definitions of the term somewhat vary, with Dirk J. Human defining it as "where God decides to become malevolent".
The broad theme of dystheism has existed for millennia, as shown by tricksters found in ethnic religions and by various interpretations of the Supreme Being of monotheistic religions. For example, the Abrahamic creator deity is an evil god according to gnostic traditions.
Overview
The concept has been used frequently in popular culture and is a part of several religious traditions in the world. Tricksters found in ethnic religions often have a dystheistic nature. One example is Eshu, a trickster in Yoruba religion who deliberately fostered violence between groups of people for his amusement. Another example is Loki in old Norse religion, though Odin has these qualities as well.
Zoroastrianism involves belief in an ongoing struggle between a creator god of goodness, Ahura Mazda, and a destroying god of hatred, Angra Mainyu, neither of which is omnipotent, which is a form of dualistic cosmology. The ancient Greek god Ares, depending on time and region, was associated with all the horrors of war.
“Dystheism” enters the record as the belief that a god, goddess, or singular God is not wholly good and is possibly evil. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Dystheism, belief and goddess can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5319573. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Dystheism” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.