Deism Essay, Research Paper

The word “Deism” is derived from the Latin word for G-d: “Deus.” Deism involves the belief in the existence of G-d, on purely rational grounds, without any reliance on revealed religion or religious authority. Deist, do not follow the fundamental beliefs by most religions that G-d revealed himself to humanity through the writings of the Bible, the Qur’an or other religious texts. They regard their faith as a natural religion, as contrasted with one that is revealed by a G-d 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 G-d. “G-d is the power of first cause, nature is the law, and matter is the subject acted upon.”–Thomas Paine The term “Deism” originally referred to a belief in one deity, as contrasted with the belief in no G-d (Atheism) and belief in many G-ds (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. In there followings, Deists believe that G-d created the universe, “wound it up” and then disassociated himself from his creation. Some refer to Deists as believing in a G-d who acts as an absentee landlord or a blind watchmaker. A few Deists believe that G-d still intervenes in human affairs from time to time. They believe that G-d has not selected a chosen people (e.g. Jews or Christians) to be the recipients of any special revelation or gifts. Similar to the Jews, Deists deny the existence of the Trinity as conceived by Christians. They feel that when they pray they only do it to express their appreciation to G-d for his works. They do not ask for special privileges.

“The world operates by natural and self-sustaining laws of the creator.” They view G-d as an eternal entity whose power is equal to his/her will. The following quote from Albert Einstein also offers a good Deistic description of G-d: “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 G-d.” They feel that much of the evil in the world could be overcome or removed if humanity had embraced their G-d-given reason from their earliest evolutionary stages. The believe that after all, all the laws of nature that they discovered and learned to use to there advantage, makes everything from computers to medicine to space travel have existed eternally. But they have decided they rather live in superstition and fear instead of learning and gaining knowledge. It’s much more soothing to believe there not responsible for there own actions than to actually do the hard work required for success. Deism doesn’t claim to have all the answers to everything; they just claim to be on the right path to the answers. This is a great religion with some amazing forefathers who took hold of what they thought to be right and brought it into G-ds light, forming a very powerful religion.