I am a Catholic, but have recently become very disillusioned with the Catholic Church and organized religion as a whole. There are just too many checklists on proper behavior or too great a focus on the suffering and bloody death of Christ rather than his teachings. Plus, the ritualistic cannibalism of taking communion has left me wondering what pagan cult I have actually fallen into. So, I was researching other forms of religion and came upon Deism. It looks interesting, sort of a “thinking man’s” religion, but has elements of the tin-foil hat crowd. What are the pros and cons of Deism?
A calmer approach to God.
So* that’s* how Jack Chick finds members! :eek:
My impression is that the thinkers of the 18th century arrived at pretty much the same conclusion that we atheists do today, except back then there was no imaginable non-supernatural answer to “but what started it all?” I don’t have much doubt that if 18th century deists had known of evolution and modern astronomy, the conversion to full atheism would be quick and painless.
Deism is the 18th century equivalent to atheism today.
Got that right! Jack Chick and his ilk are a scary bunch!
Bosda, thanks for the link. I should have gone there first, plus the Deism homepage. I am very surprised that I have never investigated this before!
Maybe the organized religions don’t want this knowledge out there!
WHOA!
Put that tinfoil hat back inna closet!
Deism is no particular secret.
CurtC, how very true. I had always been taught that Atheism was the dark side. Now, it looks pretty enlightened to me.
And Bosda, don’t worry, I am just looking and expanding my horizons. As I have alluded, I am very aware of the tinfoil hat element to this view!
If organized religion has been trying to cover up Deism, they’ve done a piss poor job of it! You can learn about the subject in almost any encyclopedia- how can you say the knowledge isn’t “out there”?
The SIMPLE explanation of deism is, it’s a belief that there is a God who created the universe, but who takes little or no active interest in its day-to-day workings, and who rarely or never makes His “will” known to man directly.
Simple expnations are always insufficient, of course, and there have been as many variations on this belief as there have been deists. Some have believed God’s will cannot be known, while others thought it could be inferred. Some believed God takes no interest in human affairs, while others thought He does take an interest, but prefers to let humans sort things out for themselves.
There have been many prominent deists, including many of the Founders of the U.S.
Astorian, I realize now that this has been out there and very prominent among our great leaders and thinkers! For some reason, I have never met anyone who talked about it or ever investigated this view of the world. Boy! Do I feel ignorant! Just running in the wrong circles I guess.
There is Deism & there is Deism. Jefferson, Franklin & Paine, among others at the time, were Deists but they had varying beliefs as to the involvement of God in human affairs, the power of prayer, the inspiration of Jesus & the Bible, and the Afterlife.
If you have respect for the teachings of Jesus, recognize that he did indeed believe in an involved caring God, prayer, the Afterlife & the inspiration of the Hebrew Bible. And while it wasn’t all he talked about, he did happen to teach his death would ransom humanity & his blood would seal the new covenant & he did start that symbolic-cannibalism ritual.
You know, between Catholicism & Deism, there is that wide wonderful wacky world of Protestantism- Protties left & right & formal & informal & intellectual & emotional & rationalist & supernaturalist.