Deism: Its history, beliefs and practices
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Deism: About the God who went away
Sponsored link.
Quotations:
The half-life of some Deist web sites appears to be on the order of one year.
The first
three links shown below are no longer valid. Still, the quotations are
interesting to read:
 "My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable
superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our
frail and feeble minds. That deeply emotional conviction of the presence of a superior
reasoning power, which is revealed in the incomprehensible universe, forms my idea of God. " Albert Einstein.
"I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation,
whose purposes are modeled after our own - a God, in short, who is but a reflection of
human frailty. It is enough for me to contemplate the mystery of conscious life
perpetuating itself through all eternity, to reflect upon the marvelous
structure of the universe which we can dimly perceive and to try humbly to
comprehend even an infinitesimal part of the intelligence manifested in
Nature." Albert Einstein
"Members of the United Deist Community hold the belief that God is
discovered through Reason -- but the task of discovery is never over. We
each pursue a lifelong intellectual odyssey; harvesting from the tree of
knowledge all the wisdom that we can. Members are encouraged to
participate in fellowship with other members, continuing the search for
Truth together. Our open minds and open hearts are changing the world with
love and deeds, as no other religion can." Excerpt from the
United Deist Community web site.
"We believe that God designed and created the world, and governs it
through natural laws that can be discovered through reasoning,
observation, and experience. We feel that God does not reveal himself to
us through inspired or revealed texts or by supernatural means, but
through creation itself." Excerpt from the
Peace Dale Christian Deist
Fellowship's web site.
"I freely believe in God as being discovered through nature and
reason, rejecting revealed religion and its authority over humanity. I
believe that all humans are equal. Further, as God has not shown favor for
one people over another and has given us all that we need, that we should
follow God's example and give to others as we can." Excerpt from the
United Deist Church's web site.
"God gave us reason, not religion," Slogan of the
World Union of Deists.
Overview:
The word "Deism" is derived from the Latin word for God: "Deus."
Deism involves the belief in the existence of God, on purely rational grounds, without any
reliance on revealed religion or religious authority.
Deists:
Do not accept the belief of most
religions that God revealed himself to
humanity through the writings of the Bible, the Qur'an or other religious texts.
Disagree with strong Atheists who assert that there is no evidence of the existence of God.
They regard their faith as a natural religion, as contrasted with one that is revealed
by a God or which is artificially created by humans. They reason that since everything
that exists has had a creator, then the universe itself must have been created by God.
Thomas Paine concluded a speech shortly after the French Revolution with: "God is
the power of first cause, nature is the law, and matter is the subject acted upon."
History:
The term "Deism" originally referred to a belief in one deity, as contrasted
with the belief in no God (Atheism) and belief in many Gods
(Polytheism). During the later 17th century, the meaning of "Deism" began
to change. It referred to forms of
radical Christianity - belief systems that rejected miracles, revelation, and the inerrancy of the Bible. Currently, Deism is generally no longer associated
with Christianity or any other established religion. Then, as now, Deism is not a
religious movement in the conventional sense of the world. There is no Deistic network of
places of worship, a priesthood or hierarchy of authority.
Deism was greatly influential among politicians, scientists and philosophers during the
later 17th century and 18 century, in England, France Germany and the United States.
Early Deism was a logical outgrowth of the great advances in astronomy, physics, and
chemistry that had been made by Bacon, Copernicus, Galileo, etc. It was a small leap from
rational study of nature to the application of the same techniques in religion.
Early Deists believed that the Bible contained important truths, but they rejected the
concept that it was divinely inspired or inerrant. They were
leaders in the study of the Bible as a historical (rather than an inspired, revealed)
document. Lord Herbert of Cherbury (d. 1648) was one of the earliest proponents of Deism
in England. In his book "De Veritate," (1624), he described the "Five
Articles" of English Deists:
Belief in the existence of a single supreme God
Humanity's duty to revere God
Linkage of worship with practical morality
God will forgive us if we repent and abandon our sins
Good works will be rewarded (and punishment for evil) both in life and after death
Other European Deists were Anthony Collins (1676-1729), Matthew Tindal (1657-1733).
J.J.
Rousseau (1712-1778) and F.M.A. de Voltaire (1694-1778) were its leaders in France.
Many of the leaders of the French and American revolutions followed this belief system.
Among the U.S. founding fathers,
John Quincy Adams, Ethan Allen, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, James
Madison Thomas Paine, and George Washington were all Deists. Deists played a major role in creating the
principle of separation of church and state, and the religious freedom clauses of the
First
Amendment of the Constitution.
We have been unable to find estimates of the number of Deists in North America.
Although both the U.S. and Canada census document religious affiliations, many Deists are
listed under Freethinkers, Humanists, persons of no religion,
Agnostics, etc. Many Deists who feel a
need to join a spiritual community of searchers for truth become members of congregations
associated with the Unitarian Universalist Association.
Beliefs and Practices:
Most Deists believe that God created the universe, "wound it up" and then
disassociated himself from his creation. Some refer to Deists as believing in a God who
acts as an absentee landlord or a blind watchmaker. A few Deists believe that God
still intervenes in human affairs on rare occasions.
They believe that miracles do not happen. The "world operates by natural and
self-sustaining laws of the creator." 1
That is, the world continues to function
under the same laws that God initially set up.
They do not view God as an entity in human form.
They believe that one cannot access God through any organized
religion, set of beliefs, rituals, sacraments or other practice.
God has
not selected a chosen people (e.g. Jews or Christians) to be the recipients of
any special revelation or gifts.
Deists deny the existence of the Trinity as conceived by Christians. They
generally view Jesus
as a philosopher, rabbi, teacher and healer, but not as the Son of God. Their
beliefs are similar to those of the Jewish Christians -- the initial
Christian movement centered in Jerusalem and led by James, the brother of
Jesus.
They believe that a practical
system of ethics and a moral code can be derived from reason without the need to appeal to religious
revelation and church dogma. "Most Deists believe humans are too innately
noble to require supernatural coercion and threats of eternal damnation
to behave morally." 2
Most Deists view God as having
left his creation behind. Thus, prayer
makes no sense to them. However, some pray to express their appreciation to God for his works. The
latter
generally do not
ask for special privileges, or try to assess the will of God through prayer,
or ask God to perform miracles.
Most Deists do not actively evangelize the public.
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About the origin of the species and of life itself:
There are multiple theories concerning the origins of the multitude of
species of life on Earth:
Creation Science: One version of this theory teaches that God created all of the
species of life, from bacteria to dinosaurs to oak trees, and humans. This
happened during less than a week, perhaps 6 to 10 thousand years ago. This
is one of many interpretations of the creation stories in the book of
Genesis in the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament). Creation Science is
incompatible with the beliefs of Deism. They accept the conclusions of
science that all life did not appear on earth suddenly, recently, and in
more or less its present form and diversity. They believe that the fossil
record and radiometric dating show that evolution happened over an interval
of about 3.5 billion years. "In
Deism, Intelligent Design has absolutely nothing to do with the ... Biblical
myth of creation."
3
Naturalistic evolution: This theory suggests that the evolution
of the species from the first one-celled form of life to present day humans
took place over about 3.5 billion years as a result of purely natural
processes, including natural selection. God was not involved in these
processes. This is compatible with the beliefs of most Deists because it
allows for a God who set up the world and the rest of the universe, started
it up and then left.
Theistic evolution: This theory accepts most of the theory of
evolution but suggests that God used evolution as a tool to guide the
process towards the eventual development of humans. This is also
incompatible with the beliefs of most Deists who believe that God set up a
set of natural laws when he initially created the universe about 15 billion
years ago. Then God left, and hasn't been actively involved in events on
Earth since that time. However, some Deists do believe that God has
interfered with species evolution. For them, theistic evolution is a viable
theory.
Intelligent design: This theory suggests that there are
processes, organs, and designs in nature that could only have been created
by an advanced intelligence -- either a deity or deities or some life form
that has advanced far beyond what humans are capable of. This designer intervened at multiple times in the history of the
Earth. This is also in conflict with the beliefs of most Deists because,
like theistic evolution, it is incompatible with belief in an creator God
who is now absent.
Not included in the theory of evolution is the study of abiogenesis: the
origin of life itself. Evolution only covers the origins of species that
developed from the original single-celled life form. There is believed to be no
consensus at this time among Deists as to whether the development of the first
life from from inanimate matter was an act of creation by God or a natural
process without divine intervention.
An article about theistic evolution in Wikipedia states:
"Some deists believe that a Divine Creator initiated a universe in which
evolution occurred, by designing the system and the natural laws, although
many deists believe that God also created life itself, before allowing it to
be subject to evolution. They find it to be undignified and unwieldy for a
deity to make constant adjustments rather than letting evolution elegantly
adapt organisms to changing environments.
4
Historical books on Deism:
Herbert of Cherbury, "De Veritate."
Immanuel Kant, "Religion Within the Limits of Reason Alone."
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Thomas Paine, "The Age of Reason."
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Matthew Tindal, "Christianity of Old as the Creation."
Occasionally available
John Tolan, "Christianity Not Mysterious."
Occasionally available.
Thomas Woolston, "Six Discourses on the Miracles of Our Saviour and
Defences of His Discourses 1727-1730." Out of print.
Modern books which deal with topics related to Deism:
James Barr, "Biblical Faith and Natural Theology: The Gifford Lectures
for 1991 Delivered in the University of Edinburgh," Oxford University
Press; (1995).
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online book store
P.C.W. Davies, "Mind of God: The Scientific Basis for a Rational World," Touchstone Books, (1993).
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Peter Gay, "Deism, An anthology," Krieger Publishing, (1968).
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James A. Herrick, "The Radical Rhetoric of the English Deists: The Discourse of Skepticism, 1680-1750
(Studies in Rhetoric/Communication)," University of South Carolina Press, (1997).
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J.R. Hinnells, Ed., "The Penguin Dictionary of Religions," Penguin,
(1984), Page 104.
Peter M. Rinaldo, "Atheists, Agnostics, and Deists in America : A Brief
History," Dorpete Pr, (2000).
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Kerry Walters, "The American Deists: Voices of Reason and Dissent in the Early Republic," University Press of Kansas, (1992).
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Nicholas Wolterstorff, "Reason Within the Bounds of Religion," Eerdmans, (1984)
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Amazon.com's online bookstore lists the following books on Deism:
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Related essay on this web site:
The Deus Project and the United Deist Community
References used:
The following information sources were used to prepare and update the above
essay. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still active today.
"World View: Deism," at: http://www.iwriteiam.nl/
The United Deist Church of Asheville, at: http://www.geocities.com/
"Deism Defined," World Union of Deists, at:
http://www.deism.com/
"Theistic evolution," Wikipedia, at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/
"World Union of Deists," is a Florida-based group with a web page at:
http://www.deism.com/ They publish a quarterly called
"Think!"
Links to web sites that discuss Deism:
"World Union of Deists," is a Florida-based group with a web page at:
http://www.deism.com/ They publish a quarterly called
"Think!"
"World View: Deism," at:
http://www.iwriteiam.nl/
"Welcome to Deism and Reason," at:
http://www.sullivan-county.com/
A Deism newsgroup is at: alt.religion.deism See:
http://groups.google.com/
"Deism," an entry in the Catholic Encyclopedia is at:
http://www.newadvent.org/
John Lindell, "The human Jesus and Christian Deism," at:
http://www.onr.com/user/bejo/index.htm
The United Deist Community had an official web site at:
http://www.deism.org/
As of 2007-AUG-12, this site has been suspended.
 Meetup.com arranges meetings
in over 500 cities in 34 countries worldwide. Click on the graphic to see
their local meetings for Deists at: http://http://deism.meetup.com
Greater Pittsburgh Association of Deists and Agnostics at:
http://deism.meetup.com/
"Frequently asked questions," United Deist Church, at:
http://www.uniteddeistchurch.org/
This also appears to be offline.
"Deism," Wikipedia, at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/
"Deism," Dictionary of the History of Ideas, at:
http://etext.virginia.edu/
"Deism," The European Enlightenment glossary, at:
http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/
Joseph Hardwick, "Modern Deism: A Primer," at:
http://www.positivedeism.com/
"The human Jesus and Christian Deism," at:
http://www.onr.com/
"Deism Defined," World Union of Deists, at:
http://www.deism.com/
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Copyright 1999 to 2007 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Latest update: 2007-SEP-11
Author: B.A. Robinson
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