de·ism (dzm, d-)
The belief, based solely on reason, in a God who created the universe and then abandoned it, assuming no control over life, exerting no influence on natural phenomena, and giving no supernatural revelation.
2006-10-02 06:30:06 · 12 answers · asked by Xo 1 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin...were deists.
2006-10-02 06:30:58 · update #1
Because there was no organized Church of Deism. Deism was a philosophy, not a religion. Religion has structure, order, organized dogma, instruction, discipline, and tithing.
Deist was a name applied to that philosophy later, to distinguish them from freethinking atheists. Deism also had no way to carry on its traditions. One wasn't baptized into Deism, and they really didn't prosetylize.
There are a great many agnostics, but you only highlighted a few of the people who were identified as Deists. George Washington was born and baptized and Anglican, as were many of the Founding Fathers. After the Revolutionary War, they no longer wished to retain their loyalties to the Church of England. There are several rumors as to which Church Washington affiliated with after the War, but burials remained the province of a Church.
2006-10-10 06:23:38 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
I believe that most people have abandoned this because as science has advanced, we've reached the point where we can envision the possibility of knowing how things began. And the scientific viewpoint is that to introduce a non-naturalistic cause of things opens the entire process of scientific inquiry meaningless. Something did bring this vast universe into being, and I'm just as curious as anyone in finding out what could have led to its creation. But I don't assume that a God had anything to do with it. If I'm proved wrong, so be it, but the law of parsimony is on my side.
2006-10-02 13:37:08 · answer #2 · answered by NHBaritone 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think Darwinism dealt Deism a death blow. When he published his findings showing that the natural world was characterised by brutality and seemingly needless suffering on a massive scale Deism lost credibility because the idea of a God creating such a world was difficult to accept. It has never really recovered to the level of popularity that it had Pre-Darwin.
2006-10-02 13:38:20 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
There are plenty, but atheists confuse them as Christians and Chrisitans confuse them as atheists. An atheist here asked if one could believe in a creator and be irreligious and I mentioned deism. I got thumbed down heavily by the atheist crowd. Oh well.
2006-10-02 13:33:46 · answer #4 · answered by BABY 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Probably because the theory that God just made and abandoned is unsatisfactory to most people.
2006-10-02 13:33:19 · answer #5 · answered by prinsin99 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because There Just Isn't.
=0P
2006-10-02 13:33:55 · answer #6 · answered by Pashur 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There are probably many of them out there. Under-representation on this site shouldn't be taken as indicative of under-representation in society...
2006-10-02 13:32:33 · answer #7 · answered by Blackacre 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because people want a warm, fuzzy, personal god, and people tend to believe what they want to be true.
2006-10-02 13:32:15 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
sounds strangely like Intelligent Design with the claim of "Intelligence".
2006-10-02 13:33:53 · answer #9 · answered by Kenny ♣ 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because there's no BIG reward for believing that
2006-10-02 13:37:51 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋