Deism

Deism (/ˈdiː.ɪzəm/‍ or /ˈdeɪ.ɪzəm/), derived from the Latin word "deus" meaning "god", is a theological/philosophical position that combines the rejection of revelation and authority as a source of religious knowledge with the conclusion that reason and observation of the natural world are sufficient to determine the existence of a single creator of the universe.

Deism gained prominence among intellectuals during the Age of Enlightenment—especially in Britain, France, Germany and the United States—who, raised as Christians, believed in one God but became disenchanted with organized religion and notions such as the Trinity, Biblical inerrancy and the supernatural interpretation of events such as miracles. Included in those influenced by its ideas were leaders of the American and French Revolutions.

Today, deism is considered to exist in two principal forms: classical and modern where the classical view takes what is called a "cold" approach by asserting the non-intervention of deity in the natural behavior of the created universe while the modern deist formulation can be either "warm" (citing an involved deity) or cold, non-interventionist creator. These lead to many subdivisions of modern deism which tends, therefore, to serve as an overall category of belief. Despite this classification of Deism today, classical Deists themselves rarely wrote or accepted that the Creator is a non-interventionist during the flowering of Deism in the 16th and 17th centuries; using straw man arguments, their theological critics attempted to force them into this position.

De teaching

The De teaching or Deism (Chinese: 德教 Dejiao, "teaching of virtue", the concept of De), which corporate name is the Church of Virtue (德教会 Déjiàohuì), is a sect of the Chinese traditional religion, rooted in Taoism, that was founded in 1945 in Chaozhou, Guangdong. It is popular both in China and amongst expatriate Chinese populations.

History

Originally a reaction of Chaozhou shamans to the Japanese occupation of Chaozhou, it blossomed in the wave of religious innovation after the Second World War. After the communist takeover in Mainland China in 1949 the De faith spread to Overseas Chinese communities in Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia. In recent decades, it has spread back to China and started a world wide expansion effort.

References

Bibliography

Deism (disambiguation)

Deism is the theosophical doctrine in which it is understood that God can be found only through the exercise of reason, and does not intervene in the Universe.

Deism may also refer to: