In my 20s-30s, I used to call myself a deist. One day I realized a creator was an unnecessary complication without any justification or support. Poof! Now I'm a devil-infested atheist. Living the dream!
One personal side effect with my very Christian wife (now ex) - when I self-identified as a deist, she didn't like it much, but deism was tolerable as I still believed in "something". Later, in marriage counseling, as things were falling apart, when I pulled no punches and said I was an atheist, it was though all hope for her was lost.
I might as well have said I was a serial killer. Note, I was tolerant of her Christianity - for years, hardly said a word against it - but she COULD NOT abide living with an out and out atheist.
All of which is truly odd if any Christian were to read the writing of famous deists such as Thomas Paine or Jefferson. Both had quite a distaste for much of Christianity, Paine particularly. Why Christians see deists as almost one of their own is beyond me. I certainly never was.
One personal side effect with my very Christian wife (now ex) - when I self-identified as a deist, she didn't like it much, but deism was tolerable as I still believed in "something". Later, in marriage counseling, as things were falling apart, when I pulled no punches and said I was an atheist, it was though all hope for her was lost.
I might as well have said I was a serial killer. Note, I was tolerant of her Christianity - for years, hardly said a word against it - but she COULD NOT abide living with an out and out atheist.
All of which is truly odd if any Christian were to read the writing of famous deists such as Thomas Paine or Jefferson. Both had quite a distaste for much of Christianity, Paine particularly. Why Christians see deists as almost one of their own is beyond me. I certainly never was.
