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To: exmarine
According to this site, the initial precepts of Deism laid down by Lord Cherbourg in the 17th century were:

These are (1) a belief in the existence of the Deity, (2) the obligation to reverence such a power, (3) the identification of worship with practical morality, (4) the obligation to repent of sin and to abandon it, and, (5) divine recompense in this world and the next.

Further readings on the page lead to the rejection of any particular revelation of supernatural origin.

According to this site, we have:

Deism is defined in Webster's Encyclopedic Dictionary, 1941, as: "[From Latin Deus, God.Deity] The doctrine or creed of a Deist." And Deist is defined in the same dictionary as: "One who believes in the existence of a God or supreme being but denies revealed religion, basing his belief on the light of nature and reason."

A prime proponent of Deism in the U.S. in the 18th century was Thomas Paine, of Common Sense fame. Read here for what he himself said on this. I believe that everything you can read in these sources is consistent with the statement I made. If you have something to the contrary, please cite it and I'd be glad to review it.

Here's a site that treats both sides of the question as to whether any of the founding fathers (Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, Paine, etc.) were Deists. I've read sources where Washington, while invoking the teachings of Christ, didn't necessarily accept that they had a supernatual origin. And while he attended church services with his wife, he didn't take communion. If you didn't take communion at least twice a year in the Anglican church of that time, you weren't considered a member of the Church. And given that he deliberately avoided communion, he probably didn't consider himself one.It can be debated back and forth, but it would appear that while almost all the Founding Fathers accepted the existence of God, a 100% committment to a belief in any given supernatural origin for teachings and philosophies is questionable.

18 posted on 11/04/2002 6:51:59 PM PST by RonF
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To: RonF
I might also add that you named 4 possible founders out of about 300. Is that the best you can do? Four? That hardly qualifies our founders as deists.

Further, I can cite many sources (not the least of which are Washington's own 97 volumes) that clearly indicate the man was a Christian.

Jefferson and Franklin were not - so what. Jefferson was not even involved in the Constitutional process.

You would be hard pressed to name any others because the rest of the founders (except Ethan Allen) are Christians.

20 posted on 11/05/2002 5:00:47 PM PST by exmarine
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