2006-12-04 07:05:41 · 11 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
As I understand it Deists believe there's a god but it just doesn't care that much for people, certainly not individually (if it cared about individuals they'd be called Theists). Yes, that god is busy, still making sure the deserts never get too much rain and that the snowpack in the Sierras is good. Other than that He pretty much just plays golf. God does his thing, people run their own lives.
Agnostics, as I understand it, believe there is a Theistic type god but they can never know him. He may still interfere in your life because he does care about individual people - like a chess player cares about pawns maybe. He, God, has no particular religious leanings (to Him, an atheist is indistinguishible from the pope).
2006-12-04 07:18:34 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
A person who is agnostic neither believes nor disbelieves the existence of a deity. They don't know if a deity exists.
A deist believes there is a deity that created the universe then walked away without ever revealing itself to that universe, that none of the prophets or holy books actually attests to the true Creator. In fact, the Deist deity is effectively nothing more than a source for the Big Bang or the origins of the universe. But even though they admit they know nothing of such a deity, they believe it exists.
2006-12-04 15:12:12 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Here is what Wikipedia says:
Deism is a religious philosophy and movement that became prominent in England, France, and the United States in the 17th and 18th centuries. Deists typically reject supernatural events (prophecy, miracles) and divine revelation prominent in organized religion, along with holy books and revealed religions that assert the existence of such things. Instead, deists hold that correct religious beliefs must be founded on human reason and observed features of the natural world, and that these sources reveal the existence of one God or supreme being.
Theism is the belief in the existence of one or more Gods or deities.
There is also a narrower sense[citation needed] in which theism refers to the belief that God/(s) are immanent in the world, yet transcend it. Along with the idea that God/(s) are omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent.
The term is attested in English from 1678, and was probably coined to contrast with atheism, a term that is attested from ca. 1587.
Many of our founding fathers were Deists, not Theists.
That is why they had no plans at all for this to be a Christian nation-but, a nation for all religions.
2006-12-04 15:32:06 · answer #3 · answered by Shossi 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
An Agnostic feels it is not possible to know whether there is now or ever was a Deity. Deists believe that there probably was a Deity who created the world/universe but that they are no longer involved or take no personal interest in the affairs of humans.
2006-12-04 15:10:22 · answer #4 · answered by Zen Pirate 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Agnostics = The nature of the Universe makes it impossible to tell if there is a god or not.
Deists = The nature of the Universe implies the existence of a god who created it.
Both don't see any direct evidence of god. Deists usually don't think that anyone has direct knowledge of the creator, only that the Universe had to have one. It sort of buys into the "Intelligent Design" argument.
2006-12-04 15:16:28 · answer #5 · answered by Alex 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I used to be a Diesist in high school and I understood it like this: Deism is people who believe that there is a God, but that He was only there for the creation of the Universe and then left it to its own devices.
Agnosticism is where you just don't know so you don't claim anything. In layman's terms: a fencesitter.
2006-12-04 15:10:25 · answer #6 · answered by amanda w 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Deism includes the assumption that a god exists. Agnosticism does not.
2006-12-04 15:13:04 · answer #7 · answered by reverenceofme 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
As I understand it Deism is that God exists and created stuff but then left it to it's own.
Forefathers practiced Theism not Deism.
Agnosticism is to not have a solid belief one way or another
2006-12-04 15:13:58 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 3⤋
I am a Deist. I believe there is a God. An Agnostic does not know if there is a God.
2006-12-04 15:13:43 · answer #9 · answered by Gorgeoustxwoman2013 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
few differences, really.
deists believe it is likely there is a god.
agnostics will not commit to that.
deists do not pray, though, and do not believe in prayer -- they (we) think prayer is nonsense. and, it is.
many of our country's Framers were Deist, you are correct in that.
2006-12-04 15:13:22 · answer #10 · answered by jen1981everett 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋