Deism -not such a giant leap of faith!

I have lost count of the number of times that I have heard that America was created by the Founding Fathers as a Christian Nation. This assertion is quite untrue. I have recently been doing some research on the subject, the results of which have been very revealing. Washington, Jefferson, Locke, Adams, Paine and Franklin were surprisingly ambivalent on religion and indeed most held Deist views. In fact Thomas Paine penned the seminal Deist book “Age of Reason” which was an eloquent tirade against organized religion, particularly Christianity. Deism became more prominent in the 17th and 18th centuries during the Age of Enlightenment both in Europe and America among thinking people who had been raised as Christians. They believed in one God but found fault with the so called “revealed religion”. In particular they could not accept its beliefs in supernatural events such as the New Testament miracles, the notion of a Trinity or the Resurrection.

Deism is based solely on reason, personal, experience and the observation of nature.The main contention stresses the difference between “revealed” or “reasoned” beliefs. As Thomas Paine said; revelation is solely a onetime event. No biblical writings were by people who were actually there. Subsequent to this he states -“there is only hearsay”. He went on to say:

“I believe in one God and no more; and hope for happiness beyond this life.

I believe the equality of man, and I believe that religious duties consist in doing justice, loving mercy, and endeavoring to make our fellow-creatures happy.

I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, by the Protestant church, nor by any church that I know of. 

My own mind is my own church.

All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian, or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit.”

Below as a printed example of the foregoing, I paste Article 11 of the treaty of Tripoli which was signed by President John Adams and unanimously ratified by the Senate in May 1797 

  
Deism, which is currently enjoying something of a resurgence, is the purest, most honest and simplest of all belief systems, requiring nothing more than a God who they assert, having first calculated the appropriate equations, fired up the creation programme and then sat back to observe the results. At the time of the Founding Fathers there were no evolutionary considerations as this predated Darwin’s “Origin of Species” by about 60 years. There were no Big Bang concerns either, so there was no muddying of the theological waters. Simply accepting that God was the original Creator they argued, was all that is necessary and attempts to introduce intermediate stages between God and the people are invalid. All so called “revealed” religions with their convoluted complications and restrictions are the manifestations of either the power hungry, control freaks or those who make a living from it.           

Some traditional deists believed that God, whilst no longer active in creation did not abandon it but merely watched to observe. However, most modern deists believe that God is most likely to have made some course corrections or carried out some fine-tuning. With the arrival of evolutionary thought, some feel that the emergence of homo sapiens required something more than merely holding a watching brief. This was due to the intangible -some may call it spiritual properties of the new species.

The most difficult to understand features of physical evolution are now understood –even the eye (-or so I am told). However amongst all living creatures, mankind possesses a number of quite distinct and unique properties. The most obvious is conscience, and it possesses what might be described as an instinctive morality which embraces the concept of good and bad, right and wrong. Although born with it, for a variety of reasons, many choose to compromise or even ignore this. 
Perhaps even more remarkable is our ability to create and appreciate music, literature, sculpture, painting etc. However, for me the most puzzling -unless our evolution followed the same branch as kookaburras or hyenas, is laughter. From what or how does a sense of humour evolve? 

Also to consider is the precise positioning of the earth relative to the sun and its 23.4 deg. tilt to give the seasons. Which came first, the evolution of plants to match the above or was the earth tilted to match the sun to the plants?   Do we really need to know? Deists take all of this in their stride. Believers are simply encouraged to give some thought to life’s mysteries but not to obsess over it.

The same thing applies to life after death. They will find out in due course as to its veracity. If it’s not true then they won’t know or care one bit. God has given everyone a magnificent mind to think with and would expect that it is used to its fullest capacity, not regrettably, like many of religious persuasions who expect someone else to do their thinking for them. Deists argue that you deal directly with the top man, the President and CEO. He is unlikely to defer anyone in the direction of the self-appointed sectarian subordinates -all complete with their specific and stifling agendas. Provided that you’ve made your best and honest effort with life, that would be considered quite sufficient.

After having recently read a number of publications –including Paine’s “The Age of Reason”,  I am amazed at how the plethora of so called “revealed religions” still prevails -complete with their seemingly endless and contradictory sects, ostentatious structures, paraphernalia, trinkets, fancy dress and funny hats. Above all is the shameless exploitation of primitive fear, superstition, coercion, the supernatural and finally threats of divine retribution, followed by eternal damnation (-by this God of unconditional love!) for those who fail to make the final cut. This monstrous proposition has for long oppressed and terrified much of the world’s population. For those prepared to make the transition there is no further need for sycophantic grovelling on bended knees, chanting, begging and telling God how great he is. He will already be well aware of the fact! Deism would effectively render the ecclesiastical baggage and self centred control wielders of all monotheistic belief structures redundant.

My recent exposure to Deism has been nothing short of an epiphany into an environment where common sense prevails, with all unnecessary theological knots untangled, a transition into an world of sunlit simplicity; a breath of fresh air; an expanse of cool clear water –or any other suitable clichés to comprise -as its adherents would have it; a reasoned, nature-based assessment!          

To conclude, the address below from the Modern Deist website outlines its principles and offers up a sensible list of 12 modern “Commandments” http://moderndeism.com/html/deist_principles.html These make infinitely more sense than the antiquated original with its oxen, asses, graven images etc., However, despite the dictates of the original second commandment, no doubt the latter will continue to be well represented by the many stone facsimiles which exist in and around  places of worship!