To the extent that theology relies upon the religious practitioners own terms, it is likely to be explored by those who have some kind of commitment to those terms: i. e. , by those who are either practitioners of the religion, or sympathizers. This is not, however, to say that one must have religious belief in order to be a theologian: some undertake it simply in order better to understand a religions structure and implications, or as a form of thought experiment - though the further one moves from the philosophy of religion end of the spectrum to the theology end, the rarer non-practitioners become.