Nontheism or non-theism is a range of both religious and nonreligious attitudes characterized by the absence of espoused belief in a God or gods. Nontheism has generally been used to describe apathy or silence towards the subject of God and differentiates from an antithetical, explicit atheism. Nontheism may, though does not necessarily describe atheism or disbelief in God; it has been used as an umbrella term for summarizing various distinct and even mutually exclusive positions, such as agnosticism, ignosticism, ietsism, skepticism, pantheism, strong or positive agnosticism, weak or negative agnosticism, atheism, strong or positive atheism, and implicit atheism. It is in use in the fields of Christian apologetics and general liberal theology.