So I was raised catholic and became deist years ago. I started to study the core beliefs of this view and agreed with almost everything. The idea of a god-created universe sustained by rational elements is a solid truth for me, and the atheist arguments are weak to debunk it.

But somehow, I still believe in life after death. I believe that all humans have a soul that is separeted of their physical body. Im often amazed to see experiences such as NDEs for example.

The thing is, I do not follow the traditional theistic point of view. But I still pick some points that they stand for. Saying that, it is possible to fit this perceptions to the deist view?

This is true for both theists and atheists. It's one thing to prove that there exists some being that can be called God. It's another thing to prove that this being judges humans. And it's complete different thing to prove that this being incarnated 2000 years ago as a human so that it could sacrifice itself to itself to stop its creation from being destroyed by itself.

Agnostic fella checking in.

What do you guys think are the best ideas or evidence or reason to believe in a deist creator?

I know there are different types of Deism and many different answers regarding that but I would still be interested on what you take from Deism when looking or behaving at/in everyday life and the outlook on life or any specific "rules" to live by?

When we throw around the philosophy of deism and how we believe in a god who does not interfere in any way, what IS this god? I never quite understood what it means for us to say "yes, we technically believe in god."

The problem is the moment he stoop to "god is the universe itself" or something like that, we aren't even believing in God at that point, but rather throwing the term around. So I'd like to know what your definition of God really is, what you think of "it" (I personally don't wish to assign genders to it).

Hello again everyone. I'm cross-posting a major discussion from the Deism discord. Across all the Deists we meet, there seem to be two big diametrically opposed camps. There are either those who are Deists because they believe Deism is the logical conclusion of facts known through human reason or those who have faith in a deity instead. Which camp do you fall under?

Why are they satisfied to make the conclusion there is no "creator" or source for the universe simply because the tools we have developed thus far are unable to find any evidence of something we most likely would need to leave the physical restraints of this reality to observe?

We will never have evidence most likely one way or the other. So to me it seems redundant to say "welp theres nothing there because we haven't found any evidence with the technology at our disposal". Of course we haven't found evidence. It almost seems arrogant to make that claim.

We are quite literally just apes floating around in space. Our most advanced technology is nothing in the grand scheme of things, so I think its silly to make that conclusion simply based on what evidence we have gathered with our comparatively lackluster tech.

If we apply the basic laws of our reality onto the fundamental matter that makes it up, nothing is created or destroyed. So that singularity that would eventually become the big bang must have come from somewhere, it didnt just pop into existence. It comes from the source of our universe and that is what I see as "god". Whether or not it is intelligent. our universe was cut from the cloth of something bigger than itself.

Hi. I am very new to this so I apologize if I'm misunderstanding something.

I recently discovered Deism, and I felt a huge weight off my shoulders because it seems that Deism values things that I have valued since I was a single diget age. Things like Humanism, Rationalism, Liberty, and the like. I also believe in a God, while not believing in any religion.

It is also to my understanding that the main belief that makes one a deist is that- "God exists, can be proven rationally, does not interfere in mortal affairs, and cannot be comprehended through revealed religion".

My question is, can a Deist believe in providence? Providence as in a God given destiny. By default, I would assume no, because it would contradict God not interfearing with human affairs, but I'm getting confused by the fact that the American Founding Fathers were heavily informed by Deism, and regularly make reference to the concept of "Providence". Same goes for Freemasonry.

Apologies again if I'm misrepresented your beliefs, I just found out about this and I would like to learn.

Dunno if this is a commonly asked question, but just want to know how versions of gods of philosophers such as Hegel, Spinoza and the likes have to say to this. Haven't really found an explicit answer in any of their works, so please do let me know if I've missed out on anything, and please feel free to share your own interpretations too!

I was reading Dr. Richard Carrier’s book “Why I am Not a Christian” and he made an interesting argument about God being a moral agent.

If God allows a bad thing to happen that He could have prevented, this choice would be immoral. He must be held to the same moral standard that we are in order for it to mean anything to utter the phrase “God is good.”

For example, if you see a child who is about to be hit by a truck, but you choose not to intervene and instead decide to let the child be hit and killed, you are a bad person. Therefore, God is either bad or He is not a moral agent at all. I think the latter view fits well with deism which is why I’m mentioning this argument here.

A couple of common counter-arguments:

1. God allows bad things to happen to bring about greater goods.

If God is all-powerful, He doesn’t need bad things to bring about good. He can snap His fingers and create good things whenever He wants to and in any way he wants to. So He is in no way required to bring good from bad.

2. Free will necessitates evil and pain.

If we as humans have free will and are expected to be moral agents like God and are “created in the image of God,” then we must be bound by the same standards as God. So the fact that we have free will IS WHY we are obligated to intervene to stop bad things from happening. The same applies to God if He is in fact a moral agent.

The only argument a Christian can make from here is that God is operating by a different set of moral rules than we are. Therefore, if we cannot know or understand those rules, it is meaningless to call God “good” in the way that we understand goodness.

I think that this is strong evidence that God is not a moral agent and therefore does not intervene and deism is true.

To me atheism seems all the rage. Perhaps I am odd, but I have never found it very compelling. This isn’t any sort of attack on the people who espouse it as many atheists are very thoughtful.

I’m curious to hear from those who went from to deism or theism. Since leaving Calvinism I totally understand why people do not find proof texting or the desire to worship a God who predestines people to hell or just tortures people eternally in general.

I don’t take lightly some of the objections to the existence of God, but many of them have certain presuppositions that don’t follow that there is no God. I do also believe that some sort of reconciliation of all things is necessary to mitigate and vindicate perhaps all of the suffering.

So with all of that said, I would like to hear from you all on atheism in general and preferably those who ended up leaving atheism. What were some of your reasoning?

I was raised catholic (as a lot of people here were) and I've always just doubted it. Even as a little kid, when I was getting my first communion I straight up asked my teacher "What if catholicism is false?" Lol. the rules just seemed so strange. There was a lottt of homophobia, transphobia, and exclusivity to other religions (I.e. atheists are going to hell, EVERYONE receives the call of God and SHOULD listen even if they're not Christian). The vocation stuff never really sat with me. Not to mention all the disgusting things in the bible. What's worse is that I had to go to Catholic schools my whole life, and even though the point was to teach me to be catholic, I shied away from it even more because I got to see it all and I didn't agree with a lot of stuff. I've also always been a very science-leaning person and usually want proof of things, so when everyone was like " god doesn't need proof, god is based solely on faith" it kind of messed with me. I started looking into things like Anselm's theory and other Catholic people's views on my concerns but wasn't satisfied. I decided that I DID however like the idea of a higher being, whatever that may be, but so much of Catholicism and Christianity's doctorates and views didn't appeal to me at all. And then I found Deism, which provided me with an ideology much more aligned with what I want to believe. Does anyone have similar stories?

I was raised Catholic then my belief changed to agnosticism during my teens. Now in my 20s, I’ve been calling myself spiritual but not religious. I just recently heard of deism and found it fitting with my current world view. Except that I also believe that God can intervene with life contrary to the textbook definition of deism.

Basically, I believe there is one higher being up there who created everything, and is pulling strings for me. When I say pulling strings for me, I mean he can influence and move things around in my life. I wonder if my belief would still be under deism or some other -ism?

It seems weird how we give the same title to the supreme creator that is perfect in every way, and a ripped guy who throws lightning bolts.

Since last year, I do believe that Atheism is wrong and Monotheism makes the most sense. I basically arrived at that conclusion through various arguments, debates, Apologetics.

Of the monotheistic Religions, Christianity makes the most sense and ofc for me, coming from the West, it's also a cultural thing and I do think that the fundamentals of Christianity are a net positive for society.

But I am not sure if God is more of a watchmaker or "the" Christian God. So, if Deism, Christian Deism would be my fit but I am not sure what to make of it in detail.

Anybody else have similar thoughts and experiences?

Everyone has those moments at times.

This weekend, my friends are doing their own things, and my parents are in a cranky mood.

I believe God sees all and listens to all, even while not interacting with others. But I do know that he is listening and that is present.

How about you? Would you look up to God when you’re feeling lonely?

Hello! I am new to this subreddit! Just joined.

I realized that I was a Deist starting maybe late high school; I am in my third year in college now.

People say that I act like a Christian girl, but I am not Christian nor was I ever raised with any religion.

People's other option is normally agnostic/atheist, but I have long given up those two ideas.

While I may not be religious, I do follow plenty of commentators who are or who talk about God.

I have always been drawn to the values that come with religion, so I actually do absorb plenty of values from various religions.

But what got me out of being an agnostic/atheist is just listening to my gut, and while that may not be very rational (the basis of Deism), my gut was telling me about the very start of the universe and I realized that the very start itself was done by some kind of higher power, that being God.

I then looked more into Deism, and besides not believing in revelation, I knew that I would be convinced with what Deism offered in terms of rational arguments for the existence of God. The main one being that every existent being has a cause.

I would love to spread the word of Deism and for more people to be aware of this philosophy. While opinions on God's role on morality may vary, I personally believe that God's creation of the universe would only give people the liberty to do what is right.

I believe God as a singular, all-encompassing force manifesting through the Greek Gods, who are aspects of God. I believe God created the Kosmos and then became One with it [there is an Orphic fragment that details this btw]. Each God represents a specific domain and function: Aphrodite embodies love, beauty, and harmony; Ares represents strength, courage, and resilience; Athena manifests wisdom, strategy, and intellect; Hephaestus (or Vulcan) governs fire, craftsmanship, and work; Zeus presides over justice, authority, and the balance of the cosmos; Hades holds sway over death, transformation, and the mysteries of the afterlife; Hermes guides communication, travel, and trade; Apollo inspires light, music, and prophecy; and Demeter nurtures fertility, abundance, and the cycles of nature. I worship God through these Faces, recognizing their distinct roles while honoring the unity of their essence as facets of the same Divine source that is God, imbuing all of existence with meaning and vitality.

In my household growing up we never went to church and we didn't own a Bible. That being said we did say grace at the supper table. Plus we never talked about Jesus. I think my parents were deist they just didn't know of the meaning. My father didn't believe in th super natural or paranormal at all.

After 20 years of somehow not ever hearing about deism and then stumbling upon the word deist and deciding to google it. Everything mirrors the exact philosophical perspective I had arrived at independently in my teens 2 decades ago.

If yes or no, Why and how?

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F19. I may subscribe to all the ideologies of deism, but I still find it hard to claim to be one. When people ask me what religion I belong to, I automatically say that I belong to my former religion. The main reason for all this is because I'm afraid of what might happen to me if I ever did it. I'm still finding it hard to see things in any other way than through the prism of my old religion. It's very hard, it's really stronger than me

I was a Calvinist for a little over a decade. To me, it seems the contrast between Deism and Calvinism is quite stark. in my estimation, if you can believe in a God represented in Calvinism, you can deal with pretty much any difficult teaching or existential nightmare cognitively. Personally, I got tired of the cognitive dissonance and have been an interesting journey since. Eventually I came to the realization that eternal torment is so astronomically implausible that such a God cannot be good. I know this isn’t profound, but I felt the need to say it.

Like many in this group, I don’t find atheism very compelling, but I do respect some of the arguments, although most actually don’t deal with whether God exists or not, ironically.

Thanks in advance for anyone who responds .

I know that deism is about non-intervention God and whatever but what would you realistically do and what would the world do if God suddenly appeared and started doing omnipotent shit... arbitrarily?

What if he manifested as either gender or what if he said Morality is subjective?
and also said all religions are crap and pretty offensive since they assumed his character.
Many questions could be asked.
If you use your perspective of imagination.

I have investigated deism in the past; in all honesty it appeals to me because it doesn’t require me to believe in things that I can’t rationally explain. The issue I have is that I come from a religious background that includes Christian fundamentalism and a failed conversion to Catholicism (I am divorced and remarried, and I was unable to obtain an annulment due to a lack of witnesses, so I couldn’t convert). I am afraid that, if I abandon Christianity, I may be eternally dooming myself, but this religion has had a toxic impact on my life, and I am reaching my wit’s end with this. I believe in God, a creator of all that is, and I still have great affinity for the moral teachings of Jesus, but I am sick of the church, and I am sick of a book being elevated to the level of a deity. Has anyone on this Reddit been in a similar position, and if so, how are you managing?

Hi again everyone. Cross-posting another discussion topic from the Classical Deist Discord here. What do y'all think about the possibility of IRL Deist Communities? Could we create Deist philosophical societies and would they be beneficial? Would you all personally attend any such communities if your local area had a critical mass of Deists?

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I think one of the most important changes to our world is our beliefs.

Today, religions still have a considerable impact, and it is possible that in a few generations, non-religious people will find themselves reluctantly forced to follow a faith in order to follow a group.

Born into a believing family, it is very difficult to express yourself with those close to you without being taken for crazy. In addition, we are attached to the community. So we remain “religious” so as not to be abandoned

Many Jewish or Christian Muslims continue to pretend because they fear being judged or finding themselves alone.

Community has many advantages for a Man. Only someone who has lived in a community can understand.

However I have the impression that deists, agnostics and atheists often seem scattered and lack a common voice.

Today a person who becomes an atheist or other does not have a community and a space to share these ideas these values...

Living in France, for example you are very criticized when you say you do not believe in religion or in D, just look at the comments on social networks

I would like us too to have a common voice, a community that would also give us strength.

What do you think?