Deism and Christianity by Bill McCracken

I thought it would be interesting to consider what Deism shares with the Christian religion. This topic could be a bit tricky because Deists have no set of codified beliefs. We consider ourselves to be free-thinkers, so we don’t tell each other what to believe. But, in a nutshell, Deists believe in God as revealed in nature, and then use reason to determine for ourselves our other personal beliefs and practices. This makes me reluctant to speak for all Deists everywhere, so I’ll just share the similarities that I know of.  ...

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What Is A Christian Deist?

  A deist is a person who believes that God designed and created the world and governs it through natural laws that are inherent in everything. These natural laws can be discovered through observation, experience, and reasoning. Deism is a religion based primarily on nature and reasoning, in contrast to other religions that are based on alleged "revelations" that come through some "supernatural" means. Deists believe that human beings have "free will" and have responsibility for choosing how they live in relation to natural...

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Evolutionary origin of religions

The evolutionary origin of religions theorizes about the emergence of religious behavior during the course of human evolution. Nonhuman religious behavior Humanity’s closest living relatives are common chimpanzees and bonobos. These primates share a common ancestor with humans who lived between four and six million years ago. It is for this reason that chimpanzees and bonobos are viewed as the best available surrogate for this common ancestor. Barbara King argues that while non-human primates are not religious, they do exhibit some traits that...

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Some Thoughts on Prayer...

Our human ancestors lived in relative fear and subjugation of the elements. Floods, hurricanes, storms, fires, earthquakes, tornadoes, droughts, lightning – all things beyond their control. We still refer to these things as “acts of God.” Add to that sickness, disease, and death – again, beyond their control, beyond their limited human power. But it didn’t take much imagination to come up with the notion that there might be animating powers in the world, super-natural powers that controlled these natural forces. So our ancestors began praying...

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A New Kind of Christian Deism

Discover a New Kind of Christian-Deism   Folks, there is a new Facebook page out called Jesusians, I urge all Deist and/or Christian Deists to take a look, it promises to be an interesting site. While the term “deist” best describes, for me, both my religion and my philosophy, as my recent posts have highlighted, I’m not necessarily anti-Christian. At the same time, yes, the label “Christian” makes me wince because I certainly don’t...

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Deism and Christianity (Part 2 of 2)

(The following is my view, not representative of all Deists. Comments are welcome.) As I mentioned in Part 1, Deism in America grew within a Christian culture. What I mean by this is that most American Deists were associated with a local church. But it also had a “love/hate” relationship with Christianity that has not abated. Deists affirmed, along with Christians, that God is our Creator and that the creation is good and shows God’s handiwork....

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Deism and Christianity (Part 1 of 2)

(The following is my view, not at all representative of all deists. Comments are welcome.)  I thought it would be interesting to consider what Deism shares with the Christian religion. This topic could be a bit tricky because Deists have no set of codified beliefs. We consider ourselves to be free-thinkers, so we don’t tell each other what to believe. But, in a nutshell, Deists believe in God as revealed in nature, and then use reason...

Read More