Deism (Natural vs. Revealed Religion in the Enlightenment)

Deism was a religion that was popular with Enlightenment philosophes of the 18th century in Europe and America. In contrast to "revealed" religions, such as Christianity, which rely on divine revelation from religious prophets or sacred texts, Deism is a "natural" religion, relying only on what can be empirically observed in nature to construct one's belief system. In this short lecture, I contrast the revealed religion of Christianity vs. the natural religion of Deism.

This video is targeted mainly toward students taking AP US History and/or AP European History. Both courses require students to have a working knowledge of the foundations of Deist thought. I am aware that other videos out there may go more in depth and I'm okay with that.

[emlmm]

That was really clever how you turned toward the church or toward the forested area to better illustrate the differences between the two philosophies. 

[cringelord]

Also, the specific beliefs of Deism vary a lot between individuals because it is based on observation and philosophy rather than divine revelation.

[simak]

Deism makes sense. It’s difficult for a human to maintain good morals, why make it more difficult by fabricating divine stories and revelations. Best form of worship is being good to others. Not fighting over who’s POV is right on a bible verse.

[fillmorehillmore]

I explain this to my parents and they look at me like I am from another planet.

[petermokmane]

I used to be a Christian, but the more I live, the more I see Deism making sense so I guess I am a deist now.

[IsJdog]

Damn this makes 100times more sense than any other religion I've heard of

[rrelaxingrhythem]

I left islam and now I'm deism and I'm proud to be honest 🖤

[tre.portrays]

Finally stumbled across the term that directly reflects my outlook on life

[markusm]

Kudos for managing to explain the topic without a noticeable hint of judgement.

[arainmiao]

I agree to most of the things in this vid except for "Deism being a religion" because that contradicts the definition of Deism itself. I think it's more of a world view/ perspective than a religion.

[omegatafkal]

Deism is the only religion that works. Atheists deny the reality of supernatural things and Theists limit it to their own religion and writings.

[joehinojosa]

I like Deism. The Judeo-Christian God needs to take"Anger Management" classes. ⚡🌩️⚡⚡🔥

[pinpadded]

When I heard about Deism, it was like my brain finally pieced itself together. A God or multiple gods that exist in the absence of religion! Makes so much more sense than any revelation or scripture (especially the abhrahamic ones).

[KrishanKashyap-pr]

The way of symbolising the revered religions and deism by showing the church and the trees was really simple, creative and beautiful.

[cia]

I was a Muslim but I just thought about God Bible and all of these deeply for years and being a dietist makes ALOT more sense than another religion.

[Leo-hyct]

It's hard to live with an empirical mentality in a family of religious fanatics

[arceniooguesjr.]

finally I found what fits my thoughts of my self and what I believed in... Deism seems a perfect picture of my understanding, instead of Agnostic Theist.

[sopimtb]

Hello. I agree with you 190% but I wouldn't call deism a religion, but more of a philosophical position.

[stanktatiousd]

This is how I see it, someone or something (being single or a race) indirectly created what we perceive as the known universe. It didn’t just happen without some form of intervention. What it was we will never know but my belief is that it was sentient and still exists but on a level that is not possible for the human mind to comprehend. We retained some of its qualities, such as emotions of love and happiness and reasoning, that is not present anywhere in nature. We don’t not need to be as smart as we are to survive; we could have progressed as a species without this level of consciousness and how humanity seems to be the only species to have evolved to this level of thought process is the reason I am not atheist. We don’t need love, happiness, or comfort to survive, even though they do assist with survival, they are not required. Why do we have these emotions? Why are we able to rationalize anything if all it’s doing is making life simple? We know how to survive; this is why I believe in a superior entity or race (non-ethically speaking for anyone easily triggered) that passed on their emotions and level of consciousness and placed us in a suitable environment that what fulfill our needs to survive. They do not intervene nor care unless unless the human race is an ongoing experiment or and abandoned one. Either way, the thought of divine intervention is counterproductive and the thought that humanity is superior to other beings on this planet, except for the basis of thought, is vain and ludicrous.

[Bayouboy]

My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I got this idea of just and unjust? A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line. What was I comparing this universe with when I called it unjust?

C.S. Lewis,  Mere Christianity