LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Deism
built 118 days ago
In spite of being ignored by the government that was born of Deists and Deistic ideas, and in spite of being damned by revealed religions, Deism is growing! City University of New York did a survey that shows Deism has grown by 717% between 1990 and 2001! This is largely due to the web and word of mouth. With Mr. Flew’s conversion from atheism to Deism, we’re seeing an increase of interest in Deism at www.deism.com. Perhaps, eventually, a film producer such as Ron Howard or Oliver Stone will see fit to make a movie about Deism and its important role in history, and its potential for progress now and in the future. A film about Thomas Paine would be an outstanding success!
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Deism is the belief in a supreme being, who remains unknowable and untouchable. God is viewed as merely the “first cause” and underlying principle of rationality in the universe. Deists believe in a god of nature -- a noninterventionist creator -- who permits the universe to run itself according to natural laws. Like a “clockmaker god” initiating the cosmic process, the universe moves forward, without needing God’s supervision. Deism believes that precise and unvarying laws define the universe as self-operating and self-explanatory. These laws reveal themselves through “the light of reason and nature.” Reliance on the power of reasoning exchanges faith for human logic.
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While not interchangeable, Deism and Unitarianism have many common beliefs. Both subscribed to the necessity of using reason in matters of religion. Both cherish freedom in matters of faith, and place high importance on morality over doctrine. Due to a lack of Deist religious institutions, many Deists have associated themselves with Unitarianism. Both Deism and Unitarianism present a positive, practical view of religion that successfully combines Faith and Reason.
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Modernly, as noted above, Deism has both declined and fractured, with some of its original ideas being adopted as part of "new age" movements. Variations of Deism that have developed or been proposed include Pandeism (enunciated in the 1850s, and merging Deism with Pantheism, the idea that God is equal to the Universe); Polydeism (merging Deism with polytheism, proposing that multiple Gods created then abandoned the Universe); and Panendeism (merging Deism with the 1830s idea of Panentheism, that the Universe was part of God, but was ... transcended by God). None of these offshoots has garnered a significant following relative to organized religions.
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Deism, which was first advanced in 17th Century Europe, is simply the belief in God as the Designer or Creator of the Universe. There is no dogma or ritual involved. This belief was held by such important historic people as Voltaire, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Ben Franklin, and Thomas Paine, among many others. Deistic ideas were even penned into the US Declaration of Independence. Contrary to what Christian proponents such as Ollie North and Pat Robertson claim, all references to God in the Declaration of Independence are Deistic. Not only do they NOT mention the Bible, Jesus, Moses, etc., the core idea of the Declaration is strongly anti-Christian.
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D[E]ism, as presently defined, is acknowledging a God, or deity, through reason rather than revelation or tradition. The Deist believes decisions in life should be reached through personal reason, and not because they are dictated by a formal religion or tradition. The intelligence Deist questions the origin of the universe and world which he inhabits. Such questioning frequently leads to two major arguments; the first being the cosmological argument, or the first cause argument, which argues for a God or prime mover of the universe. There are three versions of this argument: the argument from causation, in esse, "in existence"; the argument from causation, in fieri, "pending," and the argument from contingency. The teleological argument is the second major argument which when summarized states that X (the universe) is too complex to have occurred randomly or naturally; therefore, X (the universe) must have been created by an intelligent being.
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Deism