Deists

There are a lot of "isms" out there, from "feminism" to "radicalism" and beyond. There are several that are tied to God. We know about theism and atheism (where, of mild interest likely only to me, the "a" in the latter is the Greek "not," making "atheism" "not theism"). There is a third of which you might not be quite as aware. It is deism.

Deism isn't very old as an "ism." It came out of the Enlightenment. The first (English) major statement on deism came out in 1624. The basic concept is that there is a God, but that He is withdrawn. He "spun up" the universe, perhaps, but now He's letting it run on its own. Deism believes you can see God in reason and observation, but rejects divine revelation. Deism was fairly popular from the 17th to the 19th centuries. Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and a sizable number of our founding fathers were deists rather than "standard Christians." As a creed, however, it has largely died out. You won't find churches that advertise as deist or the like. Very few people identify as deists. There is, still, at least one website that is trying to make converts to deism, but it's just not that big anymore.

Or is it?

I write this primarily to Christians. It is my suspicion based on my experience that there are a lot more deists than we realize. They are here among us. They may even be you.

Christianity affirms God's Word. That is an essential component. By that I mean without the Bible we don't have a faith. Others complain about "questionable biblical revelations" but the Christian faith is centered on the reliability of God and God has reliably revealed Himself in His Word. That is the opposite of deism at its core. Still, how dedicated are we to that premise? I know genuine, God-fearing, Bible-reading, sincere Christians who certainly live as if God is removed somewhat (I'll call that "practical deism") and even argue that God takes a more "hands off" approach than Scripture claims. God has limited Himself to Human Free Will. Nature itself does things God never intended. As a Sovereign, it seems, He's pretty aloof and even inept because all sorts of bad stuff goes on that He is either unwilling or unable (or both) to do anything about. That's their argument. That's their belief. And that is unabashed deism.

Oh, sure, the rest of it is fairly popular, too. Lots of people self-identify as "Christian" while rejecting God's Word as anything more than "useful" ... if that. Reliable? Not really. Among these folks they'll even argue that the God of the Old Testament was just plain wrong again and again. At best, the Scriptures themselves can't be trusted because ... well ... He's a "hands off" God in the end. These folks define Christianity by their own terms and standards, considering those as superior to God's revelation. That isn't "practical deism." It's bold-faced deism.

So, as it turns out, although the term is less common these days, I would argue that the "doctrines" are still quite popular. It is popular among secular people that claim to believe in "a God of some sort" but have no clear definition because this God is of their own design. It is popular among the liberal Christians who are adamant that the only good God is the God they make Him out to be without regard to the Bible. It is popular among conservative Christians who are quite certain that there is the God of the Bible, but surely He isn't in charge of everything because bad things happen, so the revealed God in Scripture is not the actual God in practice. I guess deism isn't really dead after all.