Faitheist

Overview

A faitheist is someone who does not believe in God but who nonetheless defends the idea of religious faith as being somehow valuable or noble; in other words, an atheist who defends religion. This is also known as the "accommodationist" position, and opposes the active atheist stance that any beneficial qualities religion might possess are heavily outweighed by its cost and that religious ideas should be evaluated by the same standards to which non-religious ideas are held.

The word was announced as the winner of Jerry Coyne's contest to name this idea on July 17, 2009. It is a portmanteau of "faith" and "atheist"