Aly on Deism

Deism (Aly Leedy)

The Age of Enlightenment was a major turning point in not only British history but the history of the majority of the world as well.  It was similar to an uprooting of all former beliefs and the movement into a day of enlightenment, science, and realism; hence why it is called the Age of Enlightenment.  In this period of evolutionary change in the way people thought, Deism was born.  Christianity, although still around during the enlightenment period, faded into the background of Deism as Christianity and all of its practices were changing drastically from very traditional Roman Catholicism to something nearing non-denominationalism. 

            To define Deism is a complicated task.  By definition, it is the belief in the existence of a supreme being, specifically of a creator who does not interfere in the universe.  Moreover, there is a supreme deity that created existence but said supernatural deity does not interact with humankind.  It began in the mid-1600s, in the prime of the enlightenment movement, and focused on intellectual spirituality.  This entire paradigm was based off of the idea of “God-given human reason” which stems from traditional Christian Biblical teachings, moral standards, and on the natural laws introduced by Isaac Newton.  In light of Isaac Newton’s God-given natural laws, Deists decreed that God created the universe but “no longer directly intervened in its workings” because “the universe is a machine with natural laws that even God never changes or suspends.”

            This new way of thinking combined traditional religion and morals with the new scientific and inductive methods of Sir Francis Bacon.  Before the Enlightenment period began to change the way people thought, Christians attained their beliefs and morals from reading the Bible and going to church; however, after Deism came into play, “all beliefs and ethics” were tested by repeated “‘scientific’ experiments and social research which examined whether or not [said] beliefs and ethics were true.” With this lack of any true relation to God, people developed this idea of Libertinism, forcing them into “one of the most wicked and immoral periods” in history due to an increase in “crime, drunkenness, sexual immorality, pornography, stealing, murder…, and immodest attitudes towards exposing genitalia.” People, moreover, became primitive again and purely acted upon what they wanted to do rather than what was right and practical within their society; this is all because of the lack of a divine deity.  Therefore, eventually, Deism fell out of practice.  Present-day Deism is called Spiritualism today, where people know of a Divine and its greatness.  They pray to said Divine for peace and well-being, but they do not have a personal relation to the Divine.

            With Deism, people still prayed and thanked God for all that they had, but they did it in a different way: they prayed for giving them the natural instincts that developed Libertinism and various other reckless acts.  Moreover, Deism seemed like a good idea, but people were happy that it fell out of practice due to what it lead to.

Main source: http://internetbiblecollege.net/Lessons/The%20Age%20Of%20Reason,%20The%20Enlightenment%20And%20Deism.htm