History

Deism became prominent during the 17th and 18th centuries during the Age of Enlightenment. Often those raised as Christians could not come to terms with the divinity of Jesus, the belief in miracles and the holy trinity. In reaction to this and the growing beliefs for the need of empirical evidence to prove that something exists (the foundations of scientific research), deism spread.

Significance

Deism made it acceptable for people to have no need of a place of worship or for an interpreter such as a priest to get in touch with a deity. It posited that since the deity created the natural world then that deity also must have created the universe and given people the ability to reason and be independent of the will of a transcendent god.

Features

Deism is generally not an organized religion, but there are consistences that can be identified to be held by most. Such beliefs are the rejection of:
-doctrines claiming to contain the words of the divine
-original sin
-the story of Genesis
-miracles, prophecies, or divine intervention
-any and all religions.

Another set of beliefs that deists typically hold are:
-that god is a creator of the world and universe
-god gave people the ability to reason
-god wishes people to be moral
-an existence in the immortal soul and often the belief in an afterlife (although there is no set belief on what the afterlife might entail and some might even reject the idea of one all together).

Misconceptions

Deism is a "natural religion," not a "revealed religion" such as Christianity. A natural religion does not mean that the deists worship nature or believe in spirits within the natural world. On the contrary, they believe in a single deity who created the world and universe and who can only be revealed through observing nature. Another misconception is that deists are atheists or agnostics--meaning that they do not believe in the existence of a god or that they believe in the divine but know nothing about what it is or its intentions.

Expert Insight

Today there are religions stemming from the deist movement that have become more organized and gained quite a following. Among these are Universalists and Unitarians. Unlike Deism these religions have places of worship.