Deism Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Deism in the United States=== [[File:Thomas Paine rev1.jpg|right|thumb|upright|[[Thomas Paine]]]] The [[Thirteen Colonies]] of [[Colonial history of the United States|North America]] – which became the [[United States of America]] after the [[American Revolution]] in 1776 – were part of the [[British Empire]], and Americans, as British subjects, were influenced by and participated in the intellectual life of the [[Kingdom of Great Britain]]. English Deism was an important influence on the thinking of [[Thomas Jefferson]] and the principles of religious freedom asserted in the [[First Amendment to the United States Constitution]]. Other [[Founding Fathers of the United States|Founding Fathers]] who were influenced to various degrees by Deism were [[Ethan Allen]],<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.ethanallenhomestead.org/history/oracle.htm#excerpts |title = Excerpts from Allen's ''Reason The Only Oracle Of Man'' |publisher = Ethan Allen Homestead Museum |access-date = 2008-05-01 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080502050943/http://www.ethanallenhomestead.org/HISTORY/oracle.htm#excerpts |archive-date = 2008-05-02 |url-status = dead }} </ref> [[Benjamin Franklin]], [[Cornelius Harnett]], [[Gouverneur Morris]], [[Hugh Williamson]], [[James Madison]], and possibly [[Alexander Hamilton]]. In the United States, there is a great deal of controversy over whether the Founding Fathers were Christians, Deists, or something in between.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.firstthings.com/ftissues/ft0501/articles/dulles.htm |title=The Deist Minimum |work=First Things |year=2005 |access-date=2006-09-14 |archive-date=2006-09-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060901183307/http://firstthings.com/ftissues/ft0501/articles/dulles.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref> {{cite book |last=Holmes |first=David |author-link=David L. Holmes |title=The Faiths of the Founding Fathers |url=https://archive.org/details/faithsoffounding0000holm |url-access=registration |publisher=Oxford University Press, USA |location=New York, NY |year=2006 |isbn=0-19-530092-0}} </ref> Particularly heated is the debate over the beliefs of Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and [[George Washington]].<ref>{{cite news |author=David Liss |date=11 June 2006 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/08/AR2006060801123.html |title=The Founding Fathers Solving modern problems, building wealth and finding God |newspaper=Washington Post |access-date=20 September 2017 |archive-date=12 May 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170512144847/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/08/AR2006060801123.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sullivan-county.com/id3/jefferson_deist.htm |title=Was Thomas Jefferson a Deist? |author=Gene Garman |publisher=Sullivan-County.com |year=2001 |access-date=2006-09-14 |archive-date=2006-08-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060830123010/http://www.sullivan-county.com/id3/jefferson_deist.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref> {{cite web |url=http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2843/is_2_28/ai_114090213/pg_1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012180005/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2843/is_2_28/ai_114090213/pg_1 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2007-10-12 |title=Benjamin Franklin: An American Life |author=Walter Isaacson |publisher=[[Skeptical Inquirer]] |date=March–April 2004}} </ref> In his ''Autobiography'', Franklin wrote that as a young man "Some books against Deism fell into my hands; they were said to be the substance of sermons preached at Boyle's lectures. It happened that they wrought an effect on me quite contrary to what was intended by them; for the arguments of the Deists, which were quoted to be refuted, appeared to me much stronger than the refutations; in short, I soon became a thorough Deist."<ref> {{cite book |last=Franklin |first=Benjamin |author-link=Benjamin Franklin |title=Benjamin Franklin: Autobiography, Poor Richard, and Later Writings |publisher=Library of America |location=New York, NY |year=2005 |page=619 |isbn= 1-883011-53-1}} </ref><ref> {{cite web |url=http://faculty.umf.maine.edu/~walters/web%20103/Ben%20Franklin.htm |archive-url=https://archive.today/20121210090217/http://faculty.umf.maine.edu/~walters/web%20103/Ben%20Franklin.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=2012-12-10 |title=Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography |publisher=University of Maine, Farmington}} </ref> Like some other Deists, Franklin believed that, "The Deity sometimes interferes by his particular Providence, and sets aside the Events which would otherwise have been produc'd in the Course of Nature, or by the Free Agency of Man,"<ref>Benjamin Franklin, [https://web.archive.org/web/20021114204257/http://www.historycarper.com/resources/twobf2/provdnc.htm On the Providence of God in the Government of the World] (1730). </ref> and at the Constitutional Convention stated that "the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth—that God governs in the affairs of men."<ref>{{cite book|editor=Max Farrand|url=http://oll.libertyfund.org/index.php?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php%3Ftitle=1057&Itemid=27|title=The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787|location=New Haven|publisher=Yale University Press|year=1911|volume=1|page=451|access-date=2011-02-26|archive-date=2011-03-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110308123447/http://oll.libertyfund.org/index.php?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php%3Ftitle=1057&Itemid=27|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Thomas Jefferson]] is perhaps the Founding Father who most clearly exhibits Deistic tendencies, although he generally referred to himself as a [[Unitarianism|Unitarian]] rather than a Deist. His excerpts of the [[canonical gospels]] (now commonly known as the ''[[Jefferson Bible]]'') strip all supernatural and dogmatic references from the [[Life of Jesus in the New Testament|narrative on Jesus' life]]. Like Franklin, Jefferson believed in God's continuing activity in human affairs.<ref>Frazer, following [[Sydney Ahlstrom]], characterizes Jefferson as a "[[Theistic rationalism|theistic rationalist]]" rather than a Deist, because Jefferson believed in God's continuing activity in human affairs. See {{cite book|first=Gregg L.|last=Frazer|title=The Religious Beliefs of America's Founders: Reason, Revelation, Revolution|url=https://archive.org/details/religiousbel_fraz_2012_000_10692050|url-access=registration|publisher=University Press of Kansas|year=2012|page=[https://archive.org/details/religiousbel_fraz_2012_000_10692050/page/n24 11] and 128|isbn=9780700618453}} See {{cite book|first=Sydney E.|last=Ahlstrom|title=A Religious History of the American People|year=2004|page=359}} See {{Cite book|author=Gary Scott Smith|title=Faith and the Presidency: From George Washington to George W. Bush|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eC9fM42OE9MC&pg=PA69|year=2006|publisher=Oxford U.P. |page=69|isbn=9780198041153}}</ref> [[Thomas Paine]] is especially noteworthy both for his contributions to the cause of the American Revolution and for his writings in defense of Deism, alongside the [[Criticism of religion|criticism]] of [[Abrahamic religions]].<ref name="Claeys 1989"/><ref name="Gelpi 2007">{{cite book |last=Gelpi |first=Donald L. |year=2007 |origyear=2000 |chapter=Part 1: Enlightenment Religion – Chapter 3: Militant Deism |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hB1KAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA47 |title=Varieties of Transcendental Experience: A Study in Constructive Postmodernism |location=[[Eugene, Oregon]] |publisher=[[Wipf and Stock]] |pages=47–48 |isbn=9781725220294 |access-date=2023-01-22 |archive-date=2023-01-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230122122123/https://books.google.com/books?id=hB1KAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA47 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Fischer 2010">{{cite journal |last=Fischer |first=Kirsten |date=2010 |title="Religion Governed by Terror": A Deist Critique of Fearful Christianity in the Early American Republic |editor1-last=Manning |editor1-first=Nicholas |editor2-last=Stefani |editor2-first=Anne |journal=Revue Française d'Études Américaines |location=[[Paris]] |publisher=Belin |volume=125 |issue=3 |pages=13–26 |doi=10.3917/rfea.125.0013 |doi-access=free |eissn=1776-3061 |issn=0397-7870 |lccn=80640131 |via=[[Cairn.info]]}}</ref><ref name="Paine 2014">{{cite book |last=Paine |first=Thomas |author-link=Thomas Paine |year=2014 |chapter=Of the Religion of Deism Compared with the Christian Religion, and the Superiority of the Former over the Latter (1804) |chapter-url=https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/mod/paine-deism.asp |editor1-last=Calvert |editor1-first=Jane E. |editor2-last=Shapiro |editor2-first=Ian |title=Selected Writings of Thomas Paine |location=[[New Haven]] |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |series=Rethinking the Western Tradition |doi=10.12987/9780300210699-018 |pages=568–574 |isbn=9780300167450 |s2cid=246141428 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160827161516/https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/mod/paine-deism.asp |archive-date=27 August 2016 |access-date=7 August 2021}}</ref> In ''[[The Age of Reason]]'' (1793–1794) and other writings, he advocated Deism, promoted [[reason]] and [[freethought]], and argued against institutionalized religions in general and the [[Criticism of Christianity|Christian doctrine]] in particular.<ref name="Claeys 1989"/><ref name="Gelpi 2007"/><ref name="Fischer 2010"/><ref name="Paine 2014"/> ''The Age of Reason'' was short, readable, and probably the only Deistic treatise that continues to be read and influential today.<ref>In its own time it earned Paine widespread vilification. How widespread deism was among ordinary people in the United States is a matter of continued debate.{{cite web|url=http://www.common-place.org/interim/reviews/dilorenzo.shtml#.VV90HvlViko |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140302202951/http://www.common-place.org/interim/reviews/dilorenzo.shtml |url-status=dead |archive-date=2014-03-02 |title=Culture Wars in the Early Republic |publisher=Common-place }}</ref> The last contributor to American Deism was [[Elihu Palmer]] (1764–1806), who wrote the "Bible of American Deism", ''[[Principles of Nature]]'', in 1801. Palmer is noteworthy for attempting to bring some organization to Deism by founding the "Deistical Society of New York" and other Deistic societies from Maine to Georgia.<ref>{{Cite book |author-link=Kerry S. Walters |author=Walters, Kerry S. |title=Rational Infidels: The American Deists |publisher=Longwood Academic |location=[[Durango, CO]] |date=1992 |isbn=0-89341-641-X}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page