Deism is not generally thought of as a type of humanism, but it did play an important role in the development of humanist thinking in Europe. For deists, God created the universe but then divorced itself from it and now simply contemplates the ongoing development of Creation. Sometimes this is referred to as the “watchmaker” god — a god which wound up the universe like a watch and now lets it run on its own. Thus, deists opted for perhaps the most extreme form of transcendence available, completely rejecting the idea of God being immanent and involved in any manner with Creation and humanity.
Because of this, deism supported the growing idea that humans should rely upon themselves first and foremost. Even though deists continued to believe in God, they did not believe that God had any continuing interaction with the world such that God could be called upon for assistance. Instead, only human effort, human intelligence, and human ingenuity could be called upon.
As a systematic philosophy, deism was first
developed by Lord Herbert of Cherbury (1583-1648), and it would become very
popular among Enlightenment intellectuals who were finding less and less reason
to believe in the traditional gods but who also didn’t feel right in rejecting
theism totally. Thus, it represented a philosophic and religious challenge to
Christian orthodoxy, eventually becoming an important influence on political
and religious philosophy through the 18th century.
For example, many of those involved with
American Revolution against England and with setting up the American government
after independence were deists, either explicitly or in their sympathies, and
those deistic beliefs show through in their political beliefs and work.
For deists, the universe was believed to be
rational and ordered because that is how God wanted it to be; God, in turn, is
also a rational being with rational desires, rational goals, and rational
methods which are understandable through human reason. It is perhaps obvious
why such a god would be appealing to Enlightenment rationalists.
Typically, deists were empiricists rather
than rationalists when it comes to religious knowledge. What this means is that
knowledge about God cannot be discovered through revelation or supernatural,
religious experiences. Miracles and prophecy were classified as little more
than superstitions while at the same time religious scriptures became the focus
of intense scholarly scrutiny and critique.
Deists were opposed to religious orthodoxy,
dogma, and doctrine, all of which they have argued lead inevitably to
corruption and intolerance. Deism accepted that most, if not all, religions
contain within them a basic core of rational truth and understanding of God;
nevertheless, all have also fallen away due to the corrupting influence of
supernatural religious beliefs and superstitions.
Deists shared many important sentiments with
the rationalist side of the Protestant Reformation, rejecting the various
trappings and liturgical practices of Roman Catholicism as being too close to
the irrational religious beliefs of paganism. However, deists also rejected the
very pious and overly emotional forms of worship, which came to characterize
many Protestant churches — once again, in deism, religion was a matter of
reason and rationality rather than highly emotional religious faith.
