Deism

Deism (from the Latin word deus, meaning "god"), is the philosophical stance and rationalist theology. which generally rejects revelation as the source of divine knowledge, and holds that empirical reason and observation of the natural world are exclusively logical, reliable, and sufficient to determine the existence of a supreme deity as the creator of the Universe. Deism is also defined as the belief in the existence of God based on rational thought alone, without relying on arguments from revealed religions or religious authority. Deism emphasizes the concept of natural theology, that is, the existence of God is revealed through nature.

In general, a deist is a person who claims the existence of at least one divinity, but does not necessarily practice a religion and denies divine intervention in the world. In this case, those who follow deism believe in a deity creative but not involved in any field.

There is a variant of deism from the Latin word Deus otiosus ("inactive god"). This concept is used to describe the belief in a creator god but that at some point withdraws and stops being involved in its creation, which is a central tenet of deism. It is widespread in Africa, Melanesia, and South America.

History of Deism

Deism as such appears in Europe during the 17th century, together with the Copernican scientific revolution. Emerged as a derivation of the theological disputes of the Reformation, it was accused of being an "atheist" by his adversaries since he questioned even the dogmas accepted by the different religious denominations of the time. It exerted its greatest influence, however, in the following century as the prevailing position among Enlightenment philosophers.

Background

Deistic-type thought can be found in various cultures around the world, often expressed in the notion anthropologists call deus otiosus. However, deism as systematic thought has its roots in classical philosophy, albeit in there is no such movement. The questioning of myths and traditional cults allowed the first Greek philosophers to conceive of the existence of an ineffable and hidden divinity, as well as, in some cases, to deny that it had any intervention in human affairs. Thus Heraclitus mentions the Logos as the foundation of the cosmos and Plato speaks of a supreme god, far from the world of appearances, in which the Demiurge acts as his agent. The closest conception to deism, without being it, was that of Epicurus who supported the possibility of knowing the gods through reason and that they lived in an afterworld without taking care of humanity or even Nature. This position was shared by his followers, notably Lucretius, but it never became a theology and was certainly rejected by most Greco-Roman thinkers.

During the Middle Ages, although he did not question the existence of a divinity, which was identified with the God of the Abrahamic religions, there were thinkers who conceived him as alien to Revelation, which they saw as an imposture.

Emergence of Deism

The Renaissance, with its interest in classical authors, as well as Humanism and the Reformation called into question the accepted belief in a revealed faith whose custody had been entrusted to the Church. At the same time, voyages of discovery showed European travelers societies very different from their own, and even from what was considered the paradigm of "difference", the Islamic one.

Authors such as Spinoza with his Theological-Political Treatise, where he outlined the principles of biblical criticism, or Edward Herbert de Cherbury in his work On Truth (De Veritate) lay the foundations of deism.

In the Age of Enlightenment, beginning in the 17th century, the deist movement reached its height after the writings of English and French authors, such as Thomas Hobbes, Jean Jacques Rousseau, and Voltaire.

During the Jacobin period (1793-1794) of the French Revolution, Robespierre decreed the deist "cult of the Supreme Being" over the atheist. At the same time, he influenced the writings of the American founding fathers, such as John Adams, Ethan Allen, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, George Washington and, above all, Thomas Paine. Specifically, deist principles had an effect on the political and religious structures of the US, such as the separation of Church and State, and religious freedom. Over time Deism also led to the development of religious groups, such as Unitarianism which later became Universalist Unitarianism.

Deism continues to the present day in the forms of classical deism and modern deism.

General concepts

One of the main postulates of this position is based on the consolidation that God exists and created the physical universe, but does not interfere with it (postulate that includes theistic evolution). This postulate is related to and originates from a philosophy and religious movement that derives the existence and nature of God through reason. Thus it takes no position on what God does outside of the universe, in contrast to the fideism (as opposed to faith) found in many teachings in Christianity, Islam, and Judaism which hold that religion depends on revelation from God. the sacred scriptures or the testimony of other people without using the rational intellect but what would be a "blind faith".

Deists typically also tend to reject supernatural events (miracles, prophecies, etc.) and interpretations of religious books. For this reason, they often use the analogy of divinities as a clock, or the idea of a cosmic God. What for organized religions are divine revelations and sacred books, most deists understand as interpretations deduced by other human beings, rather than as authoritative sources, but they could accept them as spiritual inspiration, received in a personal search. Deists claim that the greatest divine gift to humanity is not religion, but "the ability to reason."

Deists, in general, reject organized religion and "revealed" personal gods, arguing that divinities do not intervene in any way in the affairs of the world. For them, they reveal themselves indirectly through the laws of nature described by the natural sciences.

To affirm the use of reason in religion, deism allows the use of scientific argument, theological argument and other aspects of so-called "natural religion" to a greater or lesser extent.

The deist philosophical currents have a cosmological conception of one God or more, this created the Universe that is a manifestation of himself. The Universe would be the great clock whose operation conforms to established laws, where certain events take place according to their own nature, but cannot be altered by their creators.

Poses

Deists accept the existence of God, but they are strongly dissatisfied or do not agree with all the postulates of religions and constantly question their main claims.

The deist is considered to:

1. It assures the existence of a god, but does not accept the creeds of any particular religion.
2. He believes that a god created the laws of nature, but does not accept that he is fully or partially represented in sacred books or writings.
3. Use the reason to reflect on how the nature of that god can be, instead of accepting that they worship him.
4. He prefers to guide his ethical choices through his consciousness and rational reflection, rather than adapt them to the dictates of sacred books or religious authorities.
5. Enjoy the freedom to seek spirituality by itself, and your spiritual life has not been formed by tradition or religious authority.
6. It prefers to be considered rational before religious or atheist.
7. He believes that there are basic beliefs that are very rational after eliminating what might be superstition.