by Lewis Loflin
This digs into Deism’s roots to reclaim it from modern garbage—New Age mysticism, pantheism, humanism—and ties it to the Founders’ intent. Classical Deism, built on reason and nature, countered revelation’s guile centuries ago. Today’s fight isn’t just history; it’s politics—Christian fundamentalists (see here) claim it for the Bible, humanists twist it to gut American culture. Here’s the truth, backed by facts.
Deism rose in England’s Age of Reason (1600-1750), not France’s radical muck. Lord Herbert of Cherbury’s De Veritate (1624) set the tone: one God, reverence, morality as worship, repentance, justice here and after (see English Deism). Kin to Socinians and Anglicans—like Hooker’s “sentence of Reason” (Laws, 1590s)—it leaned on Newton’s “infinite spirit” God (Opticks, via English Rationalism). Reform, not ruin.
America grabbed this. Jefferson’s 1823 take to Adams: “It’s impossible… not to perceive design… in every atom” (Jefferson Cyclopedia, here)—reason proves a “fabricator.” Franklin’s 1790 creed: “One God… governs by Providence… soul’s immortal” (DAR, Vol. 106). Paine’s Age of Reason hit dogma, kept a Creator (see Paine). Locke’s Reasonableness (1695) fed it—religion as “a supplement of law” (Cyclopedia, #7242), not state whip.
The Founders—first six presidents held this—saw “Nature’s God” (Declaration) from Blackstone’s Christian natural law, not some abstract “clockmaker” (see Blackstone). Adams: “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people” (1798)—no atheist void here.
French Deism, mid-1700s, went nuts. Voltaire’s “watchmaker” ditched Providence for elitist scorn—anti-Semitic too (see Voltaire). Rousseau, a sleazy creep—banging his laundry lady, dumping five kids—pushed the “general will,” state over soul (see Rousseau). The Revolution’s Cult of Reason (1792-94) trashed churches—Notre Dame of Strasbourg a “Temple”—with a “Goddess” stunt (see Cult of Reason). Robespierre’s Supreme Being (1794) tried virtue, but his Terror bled it out (see French Deism). Humanists love this—atheism’s granddaddy.
English Deism built liberty; French “reason” torched it—Voltaire’s cynicism and Rousseau’s utopias birthed socialism, not sense. Jefferson spurned Spinoza, Diderot, D’Holbach—pantheists and atheists mislabeled “Deists” by web hacks.
Today’s Deism is a sloppy grab-bag—Webster’s (1941) says reason-based belief in a supreme being, no revelation. But it’s warped—pandeism, humanism sneak in (see Pantheism). Jefferson: sects fuel atheism by demanding scripture, yet reason alone shows design—universal, not Christian-only. Founders leaned Unitarian—justice, afterlife intact—unlike French skepticism or Internet “Deism’s” godless mush.
Modern twists ape France—Voltaire’s aloof god, Rousseau’s state-worship—not Herbert’s theism.
No “separation of church and state” in the Constitution—just “religion” in the Bill of Rights, guarding conscience, not banning God from public view. Humanists push an atheist void, subbing Marxism or eco-religion—same as French Deists despised faith (see Questioning Separation). Jefferson’s “wall” (1802, to Danbury Baptists) meant freedom—“religion lies solely between man and his God”—not silencing Christians while pandering to Islam or green cults in schools.
Jefferson: “Religion’s a supplement of law” (Cyclopedia, #7242)—Adams agreed, no moral vacuum. Humanists twist this into Voltaire’s indifference; Founders meant liberty, not secular tyranny. Blackstone’s natural law, not Deism’s dictionary cut, shaped “Nature’s God”—Christian-rooted, active, not remote.
Reason and classical Deism get swamped by irrationalism—New Age bunk, pantheist fluff, humanist dogma. Paul’s Romans 1:20—“God’s invisible things… seen through what’s made”—backs Jefferson’s “ultimate cause.” Deism’s edge is nature and logic; its flaw, vagueness without Herbert’s five. French excess—Rousseau’s blood, Voltaire’s elitism—shows failure. English Deism’s reform won (see Origins). Join us at Classical Deism Facebook.
