Honest question: What do you lot think of deists?

Question

Where a deist is someone who seeks to find god through science, patterns etc.

I'm not refering to a particular god, certainly not to a god anwered to by any religion.

All opinions gratefully accepted, all abuse and childish spoutings frowned upon.

There are several answerers who reckon I've got hold of the wrong definition for deism. If this is the case, what is it?

Answer 1

I consider a deist - one who acknowledges that there is an external force, that is unseen and unknown, that has set in motion what now exists.

This is like intelligent design.

Many people think of deist a a person that believe there is a God that "created" but is unconcerned in any affairs.

This is the Unconcerned God.



This is the standard definition of Deism:
1. The belief, based solely on reason, in a God who created the universe and then abandoned it, assumes no control over life, exerts no influence on natural phenomena, and gives no supernatural revelation.

Information: Many people claiming agnosticism or atheism more logically fall into the category of deistic thought systems.

Agnostic basically switched places with Deist when Thomas Henry Huxley invented the term "agnostic".

Here is a great quote:

"Religion is for people who have not yet had a spiritual experience." - ALDOUS HUXLEY

Answer 2

I don't agree with the whole notion of deism. It is quite illogical for an all-powerul and all-wise deity to create something that he would just abandon afterwards. Abandonment would mean that the creation was a failure. If a deity is supposed to be all-wise, the how and why would he fail? Therefore, the idea that God just made the universe and then left it alone is totally absurd. If you were an artist and just finished painting your masterpiece, what would be the next step? Would you just throw it away or put it in one corner? Of course not. A true artist will exhibit his work, for the nature of a masterpiece is to be seen and admired. The deist's notion that even religious beliefs must be founded on the empirical and rational is also contradictory. For how can the creation understand fully his Creator? The purpose and limits of a creation can never equal that of its Creator. Hence we cannot fully know and understand exhaustively God because (1) he is not bounded by empirical laws as we are and (2) we are just created beings and therefore our mental faculties are limited. We can only know God to the extent of what He reveals about Himself to us.

Answer 3

Cords of Orion nailed it. It is the belief that God (universal energy, non-random force of the universe) created and went somewhere and doesn't care or some such depending on the individuals' interpretation.

Have to take great care as these dictionary writers become more politically correct and miss what educated people know.

Dei (god, gods) ist ( person of a particular belief or adherent)

Webster's needs to be real careful because they are getting away from what is historically accurate. This will reflect a lot of people thinking deism is close to nature loving atheism and not what it is.

And so it goes.

Answer 4

Well, I never heard your definition before. i always thought that a deist was a person that trully believed in God and had no doubts, but just wasn't Christian, Muslim or any other religion. That is, a non-religious believer in God.

There are, of course, many that claim that God or the Supreme Being are different things to different people. I do not accept that myself. If one believes in God, then that is God.

I like this quote from Einstein on this subject.

Answer 5

my dictionary descibes deism as a system of thought advocating natural religion based on human morality and reason rather than divine revelation.my thought would be that a deist does'nt believe in a higher power,that is nature and man that they believe controls our destiny.i don't know if druids fit into this catagory,as an example.myself,if you look at a tree,you could make a house,a canoe or lots of toothpicks.but,could YOU make a tree?i believe in a higher power.

Answer 6

I thought the traditional definition of deism was
"belief in a God who created the world but has since remained indifferent to it.". So the guy who wound the mechanism and set it in motion but has since walked off the stage, never to be seen again.

Answer 7

If it's indesputable proof of a god that they're looking for, I doubt that they'll find it. In my experience, faith cannot be found by a rational mind alone.

That said, I have to give them kudos--at least they're looking, and not just throwing up their hands, or saying they believe just because they were taught to from a young age.

Answer 8

I would not want to believe in God through scientific proof or logic. That is why the atheists do not belive in God. God will reward the believers because they believed without needing such proof.

Answer 9

You have the wrong definition of Deism.

Answer 10

it's ok with me. i personally stick to the side of religion without science, as it's usually less boring. but that's just me. lol.