Deists

Deists** typically reject supernatural events (prophecy, miracles) and tend to assert that God does not intervene with the affairs of human life and the natural laws of the universe. What organized religions see as [|divine revelation] and [|holy books], most deists see as interpretations made by other humans, rather than as authoritative sources. Deists believe that God's greatest gift to humanity is not religion, but the ability to reason
 * [[image:http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/vc006482.jpg width="183" height="232"]][[image:http://www.godvsthebible.com/images/TomJefferson.jpg width="129" height="167" caption="Thomas Jefferson"]][[image:http://www.sullivan-county.com/images/paine3s.jpg width="200" height="301" caption="thomas paine"]]

"Who are we?" We believe strongly in God and doing good for others. They believe that the universe was orderly and good. They stressed humanity's goodness. Our reason and our belief become happily united. The wonderful structure of the universe, and everything we behold in the system of the creation, prove to us, far better than books can do, the existence of a God, and at the same time proclaim His attributes
 * A model of the world**

"Why is the world the way it is? Where does it all come from? Where do we come from?"
 * Explanation**

Deists believed that we all have goodness in us. The world is the way it is because God made it this way. They believe it all came from God and God made everything.They also believed that God made us.

Deists believe that God created the universe and then abandoned it to operate under the natural laws He had created. This belief is based solely on reason, rather than revelation from Scripture, or the teachings of any specific religion.([|http://www.trueu.org/Academics/TruthLab/A000000549.cfm)]

From [|The Problems of Deism] by Josh Brown: "In that vein [the rise of rationalism] some theologians (trying to articulate Christ to the culture) and some scientists (trying to de-spiritualize God) began working with a new metaphor of understanding God. "This new metaphor was that of a clock. //Deism// envisions God as a kind of clock-maker who set the universe in motion but then let it run on its own. So God is a clock-maker (**//adjectives://** rational, mechanic calculating, detached, scientific, industrial) and creation (Earth, animals, & humanity) is the clock (**//adjectives://** orderly, timely, explainable, mechanistic, dependable, functional, reasonable). The clock-maker creates a clock. Winds it up. And let’s it go. Once it’s wound up, the clock-maker never has to mess with it again. It runs down on it’s own. It is not personal. It’s just an orderly mechanic type of thing."

The //philosophes// of mid-eighteenth century France developed this mechanistic view of the universe into a radically revised version of Christianity they called //deism//. Drawing on Newton's description of the universe as a great clock built by the Creator and then set in motion, the deists among the //philosophes// argued that everything—physical motion, human physiology, politics, society, economics—had its own set of rational principles established by God which could be understood by human beings solely by means of their reason. This meant that the workings of the human and physical worlds could be understood without having to bring religion, mysticism, or divinity into the explanation. The Deists were not atheists; they simply asserted that everything that concerned the physical and human universes could be comprehended independently of religious concerns or explanations. http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/GLOSSARY/DEISM.HTM

"Where are we going to?" We believe in reasoning situations out, rather than jumping to conclusions. Beliefs in the afterlife are very common in deism because the soul survives death. Deist believe that in the afterlife the soul is either rewarded or punished by God.
 * Futurology**

"What is good and what is evil?" The deists thought that the best thing you could do was to be good to others. "How should we act?" - morality, application of values. Deists believed in doing good for others.
 * Values**
 * Action**

"What is true and what is false?" - how do we know? Supernatural events are rejected. God doesn't interfere with human life and the laws of the human universe. Deist also thought that natural truths should be used. Thoughts that could be universally excepted were best.
 * Knowledge**

[|Wikipedia Entry]

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