ETYM Latin deus god: cf. French déisme. Related to Deity.
The form of theological rationalism that believes in God on the basis of reason without reference to revelation; SYN. free thought.
Belief in God but rejection of religion.
Belief in God's existence but not in revealed religion.
Belief in a supreme being; but the term usually refers to a movement of religious thought in the 17th and 18th centuries, characterized by the belief in a rational “religion of nature” as opposed to the orthodox beliefs of Christianity.
Deists believed that God is the source of natural law but does not intervene directly in the affairs of the world, and that the only religious duty of humanity is to be virtuous.
Deism emerged in England in the writings of Lord Herbert of Cherbury (1583–1648). John Toland (1670–1722) and Matthew Tindal (1657–1733) were among its major exponents. In France, the writer Voltaire was the most prominent advocate of deism. In the US, many of the founding fathers, including Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, were essentially deists. See also theism.