Damned Deists

[The Grand Nudger]

Well, you might be missing the other bits of a persons deism that we don't normally talk about when we have an academic discussion on the subject (or even when a person describes it themselves).  Some deists, for example..believe in heaven and hell...or karma and endless cycles of suffering and pain or an escape from them.  They may not think that a god personally intervenes in this, that it pulls levers or tips scales (or is even aware)..but they generally do think that the rules that follow are a consequence of god's creation and/or attributes.

They care about that. If they don't do this or that -just right-...then the cold impersonal machinery of a clockwork god will grind them to dust.

[Angrboda]

Deists are just Dumber, yet equally Delusional, Theists.

Yo! How are deists "dumber" than theists? LOL! They are a million times more rational. And their claims are far more plausible than those of theists.

"Deists are dumb."-- sure. There are plenty of instances where I would agree that deists depart from realistic thinking. Assuming such thinking qualifies as "dumb," yes.. deists fit the bill there. They are "dumb" in that regard.

"Deists are dumber than theists."---- ??????? I don't see it. I just don't see it.

I was gonna not post in this thread out of some humor-related sense of honor concerning a joke I made in the OP. But I seriously disagree with you here, Kit.

How are deists dumber than theists?

PS: Tom Paine is fuckin' awesome!!!!

There's just not a lot of there there with deism. It's like theism lite.

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Additionally there's the question of the rationality of deism as a middle ground. Is an omnipotent and sentient God that doesn't interfere believable, or is that simply inconsistent? Is deism more or less rational than agnosticism? I'd say if you're going to question traditional gods, deism is a half-hearted and unsuccessful attempt. It's an effort to avoid throwing the baby out with the bathwater and ending up with only bathwater and no baby.