A General History Of Deism

 

 

   Thomas Paine wrote, "The only religion that has not been invented, and that has in it every evidence of divine originality, is pure and simple Deism. It must have been the first, and will probably be the last, that man believes." Richard Albin wrote, "Any thinking and self-aware creature who looks up at the night sky or observes the wonders of nature sees evidence of God's handiwork all around him. The most primitive human beings surely contemplated the existence of a divine creator."

   If Deism is the belief in God as Creator of the universe and is based on observation of nature and reasoning rather than writing, then no one is sure when that very first human recognized a single Creator Being. We know that during the period of 1500 to 1000 BCE, ancient civilizations began writing and passing down ideas of a single creating and controlling God to differentiate between cultures that recognized multiple gods representing natural forces, such as the sun, wind, or rain in what is called polytheism. With different cultures developing simultaneously, we don't know for sure who between the ancient Judaic Hebrews, Babylonians, Egyptians, Greeks, or Zoroastrians were the inventors of this new monotheism religion.

   We do know; however, that around 350 BCE Aristotle was considered to be one of the first writers to reconcile logic to religious ideas during the period of prolific Greek philosophy. He wrote, "There is something which always moves the things that are in motion, and the first mover is itself unmoved." At this point in time with the reasoning about God in full stride, the seeds of Deism were planted, although the word Deism which comes from the Latin word Deus and the French word Deisme for Deity or God had not yet been formulated to label this philosophy. During that same time period Roman philosophers Cicero and Marcus Arelius, and Greek Epictetus began applying reason to ascertain morals from the observation of nature. Cicero wrote, "True law is right reason in agreement with nature," and "There cannot be one law now, and another hereafter; but the same eternal immutable law comprehends all nations, at all times, under one common master and governor of all - God." Marcus Aurelius wrote, "We are made for cooperation, like feet, like hands, like eyelids, like the rows of the upper and lower teeth. To act against one another then is contrary to nature." Huge strides were made in science as planets were discovered, Greek Hippocrates applied reason to medicine, and Ptolemy first suggested that the Earth was spherical. The historical notions held by traditional religions that God(s) was a nearby in the sky controller of every action and that illness resulted from evil spirits were challenged.

   The actual Deism movement formed when science flourished during the period of the Renaissance from the late 1500s to late 1600s as Polish scientist Nicolaus Copernicus, Italian scientist Galileo Galilei, and English scientist Isaac Newton put forth theories that a very vas universe exists, and that it runs in a highly mechanical and orderly fashion guided by natural forces such as gravity. Also, the discoveries came forth that the Earth, which was indeed spherical, revolves around the Sun rather than the Sun around the Earth, that our solar system was not the center of the universe, and that our Sun was simply another star. Galileo wrote, "I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with senses, reason, and intellect has intended us to forego their use and by some other means given us knowledge which we can attain by them," and Newton followed with, "We are to admit no more causes of natural things, than such as are both true and sufficient to explain their appearances." All of the ingredients for a Deism movement were now in place such as science, nonintervening God ideals, and rationalistic interpretation of morality. English philosophers such as Lord Herbert of Cherbury, Thomas Hobbes, Matthew Tindal, John Toland, Thomas Woolston, William Wollaston, Anthony Collins, Charles Blount, and John Locke; French philosophers such as Rene' Descartes and Blaise Pascal, and Dutch Baruch Spinoza propelled Deism with their prolific writing about deductive and inductive reasoning. Formal methodologies such as the cosmological, ontological, and teleological arguments dominated the landscape during this period, and the word Deism came into use.

   While a rational, intellectual, and limited God was proposed, partly to offset the government sponsored Judeo-Christianity of Europe, Deism was not considered by the majority of the population to be discernible or comfortable; thus in 1730, a sophisticated but sometimes fiery traditional preacher, Jonathan Edwards launched The Great Awakening and its return to fundamental religious ideals and emotional theistic worship. As a response to this development, a new age of Enlightenment was born during the 1700s with English philosophers and writers such as Deists Thomas Chubb, Henry St. John Bolingbroke, George Berkeley, and also David Hume who continued Locke's proposals that more empirical evidence be employed in thinking. In France, influenced by the provocative philosphers Voltaire, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Denis Diderot, a revolution took place partly due to the Deistic ideals of independent thinking and freedom. In Germany, Immanuel Kant continued the quest of deriving morality and religious principles from reason. In the American colonies after a century and a half of traditional Protestant religion, its emerging leaders began subscribing to Deism, including the Founding Fathers or framers of the U. S. Constitution of George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, James Madison, and Goveuneur Morris along with Declaration of Independence author Thomas Jefferson, and other revolutionary authors John Adams, Thomas Paine, Ethan Allen, and Elihu Palmer. The Declaration of Independence contained the words Creator and Nature's God, and the Constitution declared as the foundation of law, freedom of religion and speech, and thus broke the lock that traditional religions had of using government to enforce their practices. During this historical period, most all consider Thomas Paine's The Age Of Reason as the most specific and definitive Deistic work.

   With a Second Great Awakening taking place in 1801 to comfort the masses with tradional written and handed down religious revelation, and with no formal religious organizations for Deism and freethinking other than the closely related Unitarianism which was a diverse spinoff of liberal non-Trinitarian Christianity, Deism found itself fading from name recognition. Despite huge scientific developments in science such as Charles Darwin's evolution by means of natural selection, which was further supportive of Deism's nonintervening God and world running by natural forces, and despite the Deistic ideals of Abraham Lincoln, Mark Twain, Joseph Wheless, Mohandas Gandhi, Albert Schweitzer, and Albert Einstein; Deism maintained very few subscribers in a freethinking sea of agnostics, pantheists, and increasingly diverse Unitarians such as transcendentalists like Emerson and Thoreau from the 1800s through the mid 1900s.

   In the late 1900s, Deism ideals were maintained by scientists and other thinkers such as Paul Davies and Stephen Hawking, who chose to hold open an idea of a Creator God based on evidence from the Big Bang beginnings and an increasingly orderly nature, although these observations have never sustained as proof. While the Internet was developed in the 1960s for government and military applications, it was the personal computer and the Internet that became household resources around 1995, and they launched a booming renewal to Deism. The Internet became a tool for a potentially large quantity of geographically dispersed people who believed in God but have no formal interest in organized traditional religions, to communicate, have fellowship, share ideas, and read electronically stored libraries. While pure Deism is a simplistic rationalistic philosophy, many current Deists have broadened its appeal by describing it as a belief in God based on reason and nature, thus opening the door for one to either combine the Deistic God ideals with ethical and moral principles from other religions or seek spirituality similar to that found in other religions, and therefore, for many, Deism is a complete religion. A broader perspective has resulted in Deists often leaning toward either an agnostic view of a strictly nonintervening remote God, leaning toward a theistic caring God, or toward a spiritually integrated panendeistic God.

   Deists' efforts continue today to maintain the separation of religion and government (church and state) for the purposes of freedom, tolerance, scientific education, and progress; and they still engage in critical discussion of traditional religions that pose as barriers to these ideals. Now that several Deist organizations have formed, there is talk and plans of building a network of centers to provide in-person fellowship, education, community service, and recreational activities. Whether or not Deists copy the networked buildings like that of traditional churches remains to be seen, but one thing is for sure; if Deists continue to grow in name recognition and Internet participation, then the traditional church congregations will have to consider following this modern model in efforts to survive in the future.

Copyright 2002 Jay Boswell