Unitarianism-Deism Overview

by Lewis Loflin

This page explores the interplay between Unitarianism and Deism in America, where these philosophies often blurred, rooted in reason yet diverging on revelation and doctrine. Classical English Deism, more religious than its French counterpart, overlapped with Unitarianism, while French Deism shaded into atheism and pantheism—better termed deistic humanism. See English Deism and French Deism.

Unitarianism and Deism: Historical Roots

In America, Deism often mixed with Christianity, producing Unitarianism, or arrived via Anglicanism and Congregationalism. Unitarianism rejects the Trinity, original sin, and much of Paul’s theology, favoring reason alongside Scripture—Jesus is human, not divine, differing from Arianism’s divine-but-not-God view. Socinian Unitarians, unlike pure Deists, still accepted revelation, though tempered by reason. By the late 17th century, Socinians influenced the Netherlands, where English dissenters encountered their ideas, sparking Deism—a more radical step away from Scripture. See Joseph Priestley’s Doctrines.

English Deism, emerging in the Age of Reason (1600-1750), coexisted with Unitarianism under rational theism’s umbrella. Lord Herbert of Cherbury’s five principles—belief in one God, reverence, morality, repentance, and afterlife justice—echoed Unitarian ethics but ditched revelation entirely. In America, this blend shaped figures like Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, who called themselves Unitarians, and possibly George Washington, a deistic Christian. Jefferson wrote, “I consider religion a supplement of law in the government of man” (Jefferson Cyclopedia, 1900, #7242), blending reason and faith.

Unitarian Beliefs in Contrast

Joseph Priestley, a Socinian Unitarian and Jefferson’s friend, brought this theology to the U.S. in the late 18th century. Unitarianism’s tenets, distinct from both Deism and orthodox Christianity, include:

• All religious authority hinges on reason applied to Scripture.
• The Trinity lacks Scriptural basis and is false.
• Jesus’ ethical teachings, like the Sermon on the Mount, guide us—not Paul’s words. See Paul.
• Jesus was human, exceptional but not God, endowed with divine wisdom and virtue.
• The resurrection proves immortality, not atonement.
• Jesus’ death wasn’t a sin payment; God doesn’t demand suffering for redemption.
• Original sin, predestination, human depravity, and eternal damnation are false. See Calvinism.
• God is good and loving; humans, though flawed, have capacity for reason and goodness.
• Religious thought must be free, with all creeds tolerated.

Jefferson to Adams, 1823: “I hold (without appeal to revelation) that… it is impossible for the human mind not to perceive… design, consummate skill, and indefinite power in every atom” (Jefferson Cyclopedia). This bridges Unitarian reason and Deist rejection of revelation.

Deism’s Influence and Divergence

Deism’s impact on Christianity often yielded Unitarianism, but pure Deism—rejecting revelation outright—went further. Thomas Paine’s Age of Reason attacked Christian dogma yet affirmed a Creator and afterlife, aligning with Jefferson’s view of nature’s evidence over Scripture. French Deism, tied to Voltaire’s “watchmaker” god, veered into secular humanism, fueling the Cult of Reason—see Cult of Reason. English Deism, reformist not destructive, stayed closer to Unitarianism’s moral core.

American Founders like Jefferson and Adams never fully embraced French radicalism. Adams wrote, “The general principles of Christianity… are as eternal and immutable as the Existence and Attributes of God” (to Jefferson, 1813), reflecting a Unitarian-Deist hybrid—reasoned faith, not atheism.

Modern Unitarian Universalism

Today’s Unitarian Universalism (UU) strays far from its roots. David Barton notes a 1997 survey of 10,000 UUs: 46% humanists, 19% earth/nature-centered, 13% theists, 9.5% Christian. Humanism dominates, with “spirituality” from New Age, pagan, Wiccan, and Buddhist influences—not God or classical Unitarianism. This mirrors modern Deism’s drift into mysticism, losing its historical anchor in reason and theism.

Unitarianism and Deism once shared a rational faith; now, both face dilution. Return to Exploring Deism Origins-History for the broader context.