deism

• Deism

From French déisme, from Latin deus (“god, deity”) +‎ -ism.

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈdiːɪz(ə)m/, /ˈdeɪ-/

• Audio (RP)

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• Hyphenation: de‧i‧sm

deism (usually uncountable, plural deisms)

1. A philosophical belief in the existence of a god (or goddess) knowable through human reason; especially, a belief in a creator god unaccompanied by any belief in supernatural phenomena or specific religious doctrines.
   • 1682, John Dryden, Religio Laici, Or A Layman's Faith:

     If my supposition be true, then the consequence which I have assumed in my Poem may be also true; namely, that Deism, or the principles of natural worship, are only the faint remnants or dying flames of reveal'd religion in the posterity of Noah.

   • 1847, Julius Charles Hare, Augustus William Hare, Guesses at Truth, page 39:

     As the Epicureans had a Deism without a God, so the Unitarians have a Christianity without a Christ, and a Jesus but no Saviour.

   • 2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin, published 2010, page 786:

     In place of the idea which runs through the Tanakh and New Testament of a God intimately involved with his creation and providentially repeatedly intervening in it, there was the concept of a God who had certainly created the world and set up its laws in structures understandable by human reason, but who after that allowed it to go its own way, precisely because reason was one of his chief gifts to humanity, and order a gift to his creation. This was the approach to divinity known as deism.

2. Belief in a god who ceased to intervene with existence after acting as the cause of the cosmos.

The word is often capitalized when referring to the rise of such beliefs in 17th and 18th century Europe and America.

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:deism.

• (religions) religion; agnosticism,‎ Asatru,‎ atheism,‎ Ayyavazhi,‎ Baháʼí Faith,‎ Bon,‎ Buddhism,‎ Cao Dai,‎ Cheondoism,‎ Christianity,‎ deism,‎ Druidry,‎ Druze,‎ Eckankar,‎ Heathenry,‎ Hinduism,‎ Islam,‎ Jainism,‎ Jediism,‎ Judaism,‎ Kimbanguism,‎ Odinism,‎ paganism,‎ Pastafarianism,‎ Raëlism,‎ Rastafarianism,‎ Rodnovery,‎ Romuva,‎ Samaritanism,‎ Sanamahism,‎ Shinto,‎ Sikhism,‎ Taoism,‎ Tengrism,‎ Thelema,‎ Unitarian Universalism,‎ Wicca,‎ Yahwism,‎ Yazidism,‎ Yoruba,‎ Zoroastrianism ^{(Category: en:Religion) [edit]}

• clockwork universe
• theism

• Diems, demis, dimes, disme

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

deism (genitive deismi, partitive deismi)

1. deism

• deism in Sõnaveeb (Eesti Keele Instituut)

Borrowed from French déisme.

deism n (uncountable)

1. deism

deism c

1. deism

• Medis