I submit that early practictioners of Deism were actually atheists that wanted to skip out on tithing and church going without getting burned at the stake.

"Sure Mathias, I believe in God, really, I do. I just think he doesn't interfere with the physical world and would prefer I not praise him publicly or send him cash."

Deism and Atheism

by Peter Murphy

The question that arises about nature is: is it a creation, eternal to nature, or an accident within nature. The Deist will maintain that it is a creation, but Deists will differ as to degree of involvement on the part of the Creator in the process. The atheist will counter that it is either eternal, or accidental. The final resolution of this problem will eventually be up to science to settle.

To begin, let us look at nature as an ever changing and shifting painting. Science attempts to understand what the paint and canvass is composed of, the relationship of the individual paints, and the brushstrokes that are involved in the final product. But, what about the painter? If one admits that nature is similar to a painting, than it is not too far a leap to conclude that a painter exists, or at least existed at one time.

The atheist continually resorts to the logical fallacy known as argumentum ad verecundiam (appeal to modesty) when dealing with Deists or even theists. The appeal here is to science as an authority which cannot be challenged. Unfortunately, this appeal is plagued by its own problems.

First of all, science makes no claims about God one way or another, so it is not the scientists who are for the most part claiming God does not exist on the grounds that there is a lack of evidence, but the scientific layman asserting it.

link:

Atheism's Weakness

At the bottom of the page there is a link that says "click here to read an atheist's rebuttal" ...page not found!

Omg! It's Full Of Lol!

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"It is self-evident that no number of men, by conspiring, and calling themselves a government, can acquire any rights whatever over other men, or other men's property, which they had not before, as individuals. And whenever any number of men, calling themselves a government, do anything to another man, or to his property, which they had no right to do as individuals, they thereby declare themselves trespassers, robbers, or murderers, according to the nature of their acts." -Lysander Spooner

"Necessity is the plea of every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants, it is the creed of slaves." - William Pitt

Where do you find this drivel? Who ever wrote it is employ all kinds of fallacies about scientists and atheists....the author seems familiar.

I'm on the edge of my seat waiting to hear their final conclusion, too.

Do you think they'll let us know sometime this weekend?

duh!?! Why, on the internet of course.

In a nutshell, most Deists believe in a creative force or influence in the development of the nature of our existence. We just don't believe that any religions that people have created describe the nature of this force.

You will find a very good description of the history of Deism at deism.com (I couldn't post a direct link yet.)