The History Of Deism

Throughout the course of humanity’s history many questions have risen that have posed a problem to us as a species. Questions such as the following: What is the proper relationship between individuals and society? What is beauty, and why is it important? Is there purpose in human existence?, and many others have caused enough trouble in humanity’s short existence on the earth to cause a near identity crisis. However, all of these questions fall under the shadow of the main question that has been asked since the creation of Adam- “What exactly is the real relationship and purpose of humanity towards the divine?”

3. Deists, including Jefferson and Franklin, accepted the existence of God, but considered Him a remote being who, after having created the universe, had withdrawn from direct involvement with the human race and its sins.

The protestant Christianity was divided into two parts in America. They were Mainline and Evangelical. The Mainline were the liberal mainstream and the Evangelical were the conservative evangelical. The Evangelical was the most powerful Religious force in American society during the 20s of the last century. The status of the protestant evangelical as the mainstream had greatly declined once. This change was caused by the impact of the modernization

A wave of revivalism swept over the United States during the First Great Awakening that took place between 1734 and 1750. Many people came to accept the Christian faith during this time. This acceptance of the faith and different religious practices were not permanent and “by the end of the 18th century, many educated Americans no longer professed traditional Christian beliefs. In reaction to the secularism of the age, a religious revival spread westward in the first half of the 19th century. This ‘Second Great Awakening’ consisted of several kinds of activity, distinguished by locale and expression of religious commitment.” (Outline of American History).

Hey Diana, I am writing this letter today with hopes to inform you about a religions course I am taking. I know you are a history guy so I thought it would be interesting to write about the religious history of America. The United States happens to be one of very few major nations in history to be founded and established on principles of separation of church and state. This book I am reading, “The Religious History of America”, by Edwin Gaustad and Leigh Schmidt, gives a great overview of the different strand of religious development in the United States. They are divided into four fundamental time periods: the Colonial times; the Revolutionary War to the Civil War; Post Civil War to

Deism is defined as a belief in the existence of a supreme being, a belief that God exists, but does not intervene in the universe. A transition from theism, "Deism developed, some say, as an attempt to bring unity out of a chaos of theological and philosophical discussion" (Sire 2009 pg:47).

The decline in religion across America is most likely related to the increase inIndividualism, among many Americans in the 21st century. “The decline in religions practice has gone down 29% from the Silent generation to the younger Millennial” (Decline of mainline Protestantism and Catholicism). Many argue that culture influences, portioning to college and other environments, would be the greatest factor in the big question as to why Americas on a religious decline. However Individualism seems to be the greatest contributing factor. Individualism highlights selfish motives, only caring about ones self, and laziness. All things that religious believes takes away from a individual.

Sire believed that one factor which led to the development of deism was,” a change in the location of the authority of knowledge about the divine; it shifted from the revelation found in scripture to the presence of reason” (2009, p. 48). There are several propositions that offer some insight into the worldview of a deist. One states, “Human beings, though personal, are part of the clockwork of the universe” (Sire, 2009, p. 52). “Deists recognize that humans have intelligence, a sense of morality, a capacity for community and creativity.

In 2005, Christain Smith and Melisa Dundst investigated the religious belief system amongst American teenagers and the findings shed light on a few important issues that explain the Juvelization of American Christianity. Before reading the articles written by Christian Smith and Thomas Bergler I never heard of Morallistic Therapeutic Deism or considered American Christianity as being Juevinalized. For the remainder of this crique, I will refer to both terms as MTD and JAC. Surprisingly, MTD is basically another form of Humanism; Merriam Wester Dictionary defines this term as,” an outlook or system of thought attaching prime importance to human rather than divine or supernatural matters. Humanist beliefs stress the potential value and goodness

According to Bill Hull, “While certain pockets of evangelicalism have grown, overall, the church is in a decline. Many congregations can attest to Hull’s assessment, in that, churches in America are indeed experiencing sharp declines in its numbers of baptisms and church attendance. Over

In Protestantism, currently Christian Europe and the United States have been increasingly reduced number of members, it does not agree that the longer the teachings of Christianity absolutely. According to the Gallup poll, a small number

Deism is a belief based solely on reason and nature, acknowledging the existence of a god, but denying any involvement in the human world beyond creation. Deism rejects the ideas of faith-based and “revealed” religions (those who claim to have received a special revelation from God) such as Christianity, Islam and Judaism. It also rejects any religious knowledge found in sacred texts such as the Bible and the Quran (“Deism” 94). Instead of having faith and believing that God is in control, Deists only believe in reason and use that as their guide to truth (“Deism” 94). Deism is considered a natural religion, accepting what God has created and applying human knowledge and reason as a way to exist and thrive within the natural laws of the universe.

In Enlightenment era people believed in religion, they have used reason and science to prove more that god dose exits, it was not accepted to be atheism. Though in Romantic era people have started to lose faith in god or religion.

The chief complaint of the philosophes against Christianity was that over the course of its history it had bred a fanaticism that led people to commit crimes in the name of religion. The philosophes felt that devotion to church and the divine distracted the attention from things like scientific advancements and rational knowledge. This is partly why philosophes were overtly hostile to organized religions. The philosophes were not opposed to religion itself rather they felt decentralized. Deism is a belief in a rational God who had created the universe but then allowed it to function without his interference according to the mechanisms of nature and a belief in rewards and punishments after death for human action. It was intended to promote tolerance of other faiths. Deists believed that a good, virtuous life on Earth would secure just rewards in the afterlife. Deism used human reason to supplant the authority of intolerant churches. Their beliefs made them radicals by the standards of their time and they retained belief in God, who became the rational creator of

that gives us knoledge of the supernatural. Therefore, then point out the main principles that alloow us to affirm that God exist, its real ans is close.