unbelievers
Those without faith
Unbelievers are people who don't accept a particular religious faith—especially from the perspective of those who do.
The term appears most often in religious contexts: The prophet warned against marrying unbelievers.
It can extend to any strongly held belief system: To true believers in the free market, skeptics are unbelievers.
The word carries a hint of judgment from the inside looking out.
Lacking belief in deities
- nonbelieversPeople lacking religious faith
- irreligiousNot devout or pious
- freethinkersIndependent-minded questioners of orthodoxy
- humanistsAdvocates for human reason
antitheists · disbelievers · nontheistic · secularists · heathens · infidels · pagans · materialists
Those rejecting the faith
- heathensIrreligious or uncivilized people
- pagansNon-Abrahamic faith practitioners
- goyimNon-Jews, in Hebrew
- foreignersPeople from elsewhere
strangers · outcasts · excluded · unconverted · uninitiated · idolaters · polytheists · unchosen
Those who abandon belief
- blasphemersThose reviling the divine
- infidelsThose rejecting the faith
- iconoclastsAttackers of cherished beliefs
- renegadesTraitors to a cause
schismatics · dissenters · excommunicated · nonconformists · backsliders · defectors · kafir · idolaters
Those who doubt claims
- questionersPeople who pose queries
- unconvincedNot yet believing
- uncertainNot firmly known
- waveringShowing unsteady resolve
hesitant · unsure · searching · doubtful · incredulous · mistrustful · suspicious · tentative
Not involving worship
- worldlyExperienced in practical affairs
- temporalRelating to chronology
- humanistEthics-focused secular philosopher
- rationalistOne guided by reason
materialist · earthly · civil · layperson · unchurched · irreligious · liberal · freethinking
godless
Lacking belief in deities
- nonbelieversPeople lacking religious faith
- irreligiousNot devout or pious
- freethinkersIndependent-minded questioners of orthodoxy
humanists · antitheists · disbelievers · nontheistic · secularists · heathens · infidels · pagans · materialists · rationalists
infidels
Those rejecting the faith
- heathensIrreligious or uncivilized people
- pagansNon-Abrahamic faith practitioners
- goyimNon-Jews, in Hebrew
foreigners · strangers · outcasts · excluded · unconverted · uninitiated · idolaters · polytheists · unchosen · rejected
apostates
Those who abandon belief
- blasphemersThose reviling the divine
- infidelsThose rejecting the faith
- iconoclastsAttackers of cherished beliefs
renegades · schismatics · dissenters · excommunicated · nonconformists · backsliders · defectors · kafir · idolaters · pagans
skeptics
Those who doubt claims
- questionersPeople who pose queries
- unconvincedNot yet believing
- uncertainNot firmly known
wavering · hesitant · unsure · searching · doubtful · incredulous · mistrustful · suspicious · tentative · undecided
nonreligious
Not involving worship
- worldlyExperienced in practical affairs
- temporalRelating to chronology
- humanistEthics-focused secular philosopher
rationalist · materialist · earthly · civil · layperson · unchurched · irreligious · liberal · freethinking · enlightened
- nonbelieversatheist, atheists, agnostic, agnostics, nonbeliever
unbelieversbelievers
Those having faith
adherents · true believers · worshippers · followers · disciples