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 | "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. |
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." Read reviews or order this book safely from Amazon.com online book store |
| Thomas Paine, "The Age of Reason." Read reviews or order this book |
| 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). Read reviews or order this book safely from Amazon.com online book store |
| P.C.W. Davies, "Mind of God: The Scientific Basis for a Rational World," Touchstone Books, (1993). Read reviews or order this book |
| Peter Gay, "Deism, An anthology," Krieger Publishing, (1968). Read reviews or order this book |
| 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). Read reviews or order this book |
| 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). Read reviews or order this book |
| Kerry Walters, "The American Deists: Voices of Reason and Dissent in the Early Republic," University Press of Kansas, (1992). Read reviews or order this book |
| Nicholas Wolterstorff, "Reason Within the Bounds of Religion," Eerdmans, (1984) Read reviews or order this book |
Amazon.com's online bookstore lists the following books on Deism:
If you see a generic Amazon ad here, please click on your browser's refresh key
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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