DEISM: The God that got away
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:
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, "Deism"
began to refer to forms of radical Christianity - belief systems that
rejected miracles, revelation, and the inerrancy of the Bible. Currently,
Deism is 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:
1.
belief in the existence of a single supreme God 2.
humanity's duty to revere God 3.
linkage of worship with practical morality 4.
God will forgive us if we repent and abandon our sins 5. good
works will be rewarded (and punishment for evil) both in life and after
death
Many of the leaders of the French and American revolutions followed
this belief system, including John Quincy Adams, Ethan Allen, Benjamin
Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison Thomas Paine, and George Washington.
Deists played a major role in creating the principle of separation of
church and state, and the religious freedom clauses of the 1st Amendment
of the Constitution.
Beliefs and Practices:
From: http://www.religioustolerance.org/deism.htm |