Deism is a belief that God created the universe and its laws (including the natural law) and simply has left it be and does not actively intervene in the world. Thomas Jefferson, who wrote the Declaration of Independence, was a Deist, as were most educated people of that time period.
We can see the Deist influence of the founders when they referred to the "Creator" instead of "God" and when they referred to inalienable rights such as the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness (the pursuit of happiness meant property, but Jefferson preferred that phrase, which has led to misinterpretations; this was the classical liberal understanding of natural law).
Why is it that people spread myths about the religious beliefs of the founders for what appear to be politically motivated reasons?
2007-12-06
10:50:51
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17 answers
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asked by
Anonymous
in
Politics