Quote:Actually modern deists and even some classical deists do not believe in free will. I was a hardcore deist and loved it greatly. Deism is built from determinism and proposes that god created the world functioning as a demiurge and created it so perfectly(it is god) that everything is a result of it's will. God is the master craftsman and the perfect watch maker.Isn't deism based on the belief that god created the universe and then stopped intervening? The only chance would be if god, being all powerful, defined in the beginning the fate of us all, but that doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Can a deist support a god who is in constant touch with the universe?
Deists usually are against free will especially if they are not classical deists. Deism conforms to science primarily and free will is not supported by science any more thanks to the discoveries in cognitive neuroscience.
Quote:Liberal theists believe in free will but believe god intervenes but this does not destroy free will, it just destroys fate since fate is changeable according to theism. Open or Liberal Theism strong encourages free will since it also promotes Cognitive Dualism. Fluffy liberal theists assume that an immortal essence exists and they thus use this to establish free will on the basis of metaphysical absurdities.Thanks for opening me up to the concept of 'liberal theism', I had never heard of it. Most of my friends (we are young people, millennials) share some sort of liberal theism based view, they believe in a supernatural being (whether we call it god or not) and spiritual forces, just like they believe in supernatural events and an occasional intervention of god, but that doesn't mean god intervenes constantly with our world. It sure is less harmful and peaceful, but I still consider it senseless.
By the way, before I became an atheist I was also a deist
Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you