Separation of Church and State?

The founding fathers' views on religion and government After the recent flap over the 9th circuit court's pledge decision (ruling the added phrase 'under God,' inserted into the pledge in 1954, to be unconstitutional), I've received a lot of requests for the thoughts of the Founding fathers on the issue of Separation of Church and State. At issue is the belief of many mainstream Christians that separation is a later construct of the courts, and never intended by the founders. Another prominent argument is that the founders only opposed the establishment...

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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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Deism and Founding Fathers

This short letter was in answer to John Meadows who attempted to paint all the Founding Fathers as Christians written by Dr. Ben Johnson, Doctor of Divinity; Deist. May,1999. Though the brief description of Deism accurately supports the argument about the faith of our Founding Fathers, it contains many historical inaccuracies that I would like to bring to light. Deism is assembled around the idea that God is the creator of all, but then steps back from his creations, leaving no further interaction. Most Deists see organized religion...

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Reason, Intuition and More

Galileo said, "I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason and intellect has intended for us to forego their use." I strongly agree, but I must add that this same God endowed us with imagination, intuition and inspiration. I think we should celebrate all these gifts. In my opinion it is the combination of all these attributes that makes us distinctly human. I believe our ability to reason is our most important human characteristic. Reason and intellect distinguish us from mere animals. David Pyle said,...

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My Religion is Life and My Church is the Universe

Deism is Based on Observable Truth and Logic Rather Than Faith in the Unknown Modern Deism is a religion or philosophy that isn't really well understood by the general public. As a deist, I've decided to dedicate an article to explaining what it is and is not. Deism is almost entirely void of faith.  As a deist, you observe the perfect balance and incomprehensible complexity of the universe and consider a creator to be self-evident...

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