by Derek Allison

Created on: January 10, 2007   Last Updated: May 11, 2007

Historical and modern Deism is defined by the belief that reason, rather than revelation or tradition, should be the foundation of our belief in God. Deists reject both organized and revealed religion and maintain that reason and nature are the essential elements in all knowledge. They maintain that God is a good and wise Supreme Being who is to be understood only by the methods of rational argument. Deism has become identified with the classical belief that God created but does not intervene in the universe. This article will examine the theological approaches to the study of God taken by the deists Thomas Paine and Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire.

"How different is [Christianity] to the pure and simple profession of Deism! The true Deist has but one Deity, and his religion consists in contemplating the power, wisdom, and benignity of the Deity in his works, and in endeavoring to imitate him in everything moral, scientific, and mechanical."
Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason.

The American intellectual, scholar and philosopher Thomas Paine was born in 1737 and is widely recognised as one of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America. An advocate for liberalism and constitutional republican government, Paine anticipated and helped to ferment the American Revolution through his powerful philosophical writings. In his treatise on religion, The Age of Reason, written in parts during the 1790's, he advocates a sceptical and rational examination of God and extols the virtues of deism over organised religion. Paine stresses his belief in "one God" and the "Word of God" as exemplified by nature and the exercise of reason. Thus, he rejects the tenets of the Holy Scriptures: "I sincerely detest it, the Bible, as I detest everything that is cruel".

In The Age of Reason, his "deistic plea for a rational Christianity" , Thomas Paine states his belief in only one God and his hope for "happiness beyond this life" . He believes that religion should involve justice, mercy, and making other people happy . He does not believe in any organised religion, "my mind is my own Church", and states that organised religious institutions are established to exploit people and make them afraid and servile . He does not condemn or question those who believe otherwise or criticise their faith, but he firmly believes that we should be faithful to ourselves in what we believe and never deceive ourselves . When a person professes to believe something which he does not he contributes towards

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