RE: Deism vs. Atheism
May 23, 2010 at 4:29 pm
(This post was last modified: May 23, 2010 at 4:34 pm by Atheist_named_Christian.)
(May 23, 2010 at 11:54 am)Caecilian Wrote: A deist is an atheist who can't let go of believing in some sort of divine agency.
Look at when deism was popular- the Enlightenment period, basically. Europe was beginning to move towards a more scientific and less supernatural view of the world.
Many intellectuals (Voltaire, Hume, Jefferson...) found it impossible to believe in the christian fairytale any more. But there was a strong stigma against atheism- it was a bit like being a socialist in the US today. Also, of course, they'd been brought up christian, and lived in a strongly christian society- not believing in any god at all was a very difficult step to make.
Deism is a kind of unhappy compromise position imo.
Thanks, Caecilian - this historic explanation makes indeed perfect sense. Does anyone know, how popular Deism still is?
Edith says: I found some numbers for the US, 2001: No Religion 27M, Atheism 900k, Deism 49k followers - even Scientology has more (55k). I also wonder, what god these 27M non-religious theists believe in ...
