Christian deism

Christian deism is a position within the philosophy of religion that draws from both Christianity and deism. It typically describes deists who accept the moral teachings of Jesus but reject his divinity. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson are frequently mentioned as notable figures who held this view.

The term "Christian deism" first appeared in print in English in 1738, in a book by Thomas Morgan, and was used about ten times by 1800. The related term "Christian deist" appears as early as 1722, in Daniel Waterland's *Christianity Vindicated Against Infidelity*, where Waterland called it a misuse of language. Matthew Tindal later adopted the term in his 1730 work *Christianity as Old as the Creation*. Tindal had earlier published a pamphlet in 1698, "The Liberty of the Press," as a Christian deist.

This philosophy takes on the ethics and non-mystical teachings of Jesus while denying that Jesus was a god. It is influenced by Christianity and by both classical and modern deism. Scholars of the U.S. Founding Fathers have tended to place the founders' religion into one of three categories: non-Christian deism, Christian deism, and orthodox Christianity. John Locke and John Tillotson, through their writings, particularly inspired Christian deism.

Perhaps the most famous person to hold this position was Thomas Jefferson. He praised "nature's God" in the Declaration of Independence and edited the "Jefferson Bible," which removed all references to revelations and miraculous interventions from a deity. In an 1803 letter to Joseph Priestley, Jefferson explained that he first conceived of writing his view of the "Christian system" during a conversation with Benjamin Rush in 1798–99. He proposed starting with a review of ancient philosophers' morals, then moving to the "deism and ethics of the Jews," and concluding with the "principles of a pure deism" taught by Jesus, while omitting the question of his divinity and even his inspiration.

Christian deists see no contradiction in adopting the values and ideals of Jesus without believing he was God. One author, without providing examples or citations, claims that a number of influential 17th- and 18th-century thinkers called themselves "Christian deists" because they accepted both a Christian religion based on revelation and a deistic religion based on natural reason. This deistic religion was consistent with Christianity but independent of any revealed authority. Christian deists often accepted revelation when it could be made to accord with natural or rational religion.

Deism itself is a humanist theological position that emerged during the Scientific Revolution of 17th-century Europe and became influential during the 18th-century Enlightenment. Deists reject atheism and hold that God does not intervene in the natural world, allowing it to run according to the laws of nature set at creation. Because God does not control or interfere, the world operates on its own, and humans are free agents in a free world. God is seen as wholly transcendent, never immanent. For deists, knowledge of God comes only through reason and observation of nature, not through revelation or supernatural events like miracles.

Christian deism is one branch of deism. Over time, other schools have formed, including pandeism, the belief that God became the entire universe and no longer exists as a separate being.

Williston Walker, in *A History of the Christian Church*, wrote that in its milder form, deism emerged as "rational supernaturalism," but in its central development it became full Christian deism, while its radical wing turned against organized religion as anti-Christian deism. He noted that English deism was largely a cautious, Christian deism limited to the upper classes, though a radical anti-Christian deism also accompanied it. An early Christian deist wrote that if God governs moral agents at all, he must govern them by hope and fear, or by a wise application of rewards and punishments.