 | Concise Dictionary of Religion |  |
DEISM:
a PHILOSOPHY which regards GOD as the intelligent creator of an independent and law-abiding world but denies that He providentially guides it or intervenes in any way with its course or destiny. REASON is the sole instrument through which God's EXISTENCE and NATURE can be deduced from the orderly workings of the UNIVERSE. Deism flourished in England in the eighteenth century and strongly influenced the rise of BIBLICAL CRITICISM and MODERNISM in the nineteenth century.
| Concise Dictionary of Religion | |