Tuesday, January 27, 2009

So Now What?

It has been months since my last post to this blog. It's not that I don't want to add more. Nor is it that I don't have any further ideas to share. It's almost as if I kind of "got it out of my system" - like I ran a sprint instead of a marathon. But I don't want to be one of "those" bloggers. You know, they make one or two posts and that's it forever.

This eye opening conversion to Deism still consumes me. Almost every waking moment I draw comparisons to what is now, for me, and what was then. I see the inspirational billboards for a Christian church. I see the old shopping strips where three out of seven stores are actually a "church". (If still a Christian, I could never do the shopping strip store front church thing, by the way. And yes I understand that it's not the building, but the people who make the church. Whatever ... that's not a church to me.) The giant electric billboard-type sign outside another church flashing a well known Aesop quote as if it's biblical. The construction of a new church near an affluent part of town, with the biggest concrete cross in the state, I would think, complete with neon highlights. Jewish leaders running radio ads condemning the trouble in the middle east. The middle east fighting their perpetual wars in the name of Allah. (Seriously, is it so ingrained that you cannot even consider peace?!) The revealed religions continue to march on.

So now what for Deism? No question we need to share our story - we have so much to offer humanity. We have wisdom, we have peace, we have inspiration and hope and love. But how do we share these aspects with the world? This challenge is made more difficult because of a couple of our fundamental precepts - no dogma and no revealed texts. For instance I feel more wise and totally at peace with my belief in Deism. I feel more inspiration and hope and love then at any other point in my life. Not because of the untruths from man made religions of old, but because of the truths I have discovered thanks to Deism, science, books and the internet; and the likes of Paine, Jefferson and Johnson.

Perhaps what we should do in Deism is simply march on as well. Let's share our principles and history every chance we get.



One Deist Φ

4 comments:

Dan Mesmer said...

By not doing a blog posting for over a half year, you make an excellent point. Deism doesn't require that we continually profess Deism. Most of the things we Deists do to make the world better come during the times when we act toward others as Deists rather than during the times when we talk specifically about Deism. Life, itself, provides plenty of opportunities to make things better.

Although Deist sites and blogs are important, they are but a small part of what Deists do. I think it would be worthwhile for people to write about, and for people to read about, some of the really positive things people are doing now that they are Deists.

One Deist said...

As always, Dan, wise commentary indeed. Thanks.

Lewis Loflin said...

You said, "So now what for Deism? No question we need to share our story - we have so much to offer humanity. We have wisdom, we have peace, we have inspiration and hope and love. But how do we share these aspects with the world?"

You have a few historical problems with that claim. French Deism for example was behind the French Revolution, its Reign of Terror, and laid the groundwork for socialism, fascism, Nazism, Stalin, Hitler, and Mao.

You need to start being honest with yourself on these issues. Religious belief has nothing to do with extremism. Non-religious and even Deists can be as evil as the worst Muslim or Christian.

OneDeist said...

I have absolutely no historical problems with my statements, nor do I lack honesty with myself.

You see, I am not referring to historical facts, I am proclaiming what Deism may offer now. My website, blog and forum are not called DeismYesterday, but DeismToday. What you are suggesting would be like the Christians trying to get converts by proclaiming the tens of thousands that were slaughtered during the crusades. I am not hiding what Deism may have been, (debatably, it may have served an ugly purpose for its time then) but I am not promoting it either.

Your statement, "Religious belief has nothing to do with extremism." seems completely illogical and unreasonable. Obviously extremism may be perpetrated by those outside of religion, but the overwhelming majority of extremism throughout history has been based on religion.

I truly respect and honor you for what you have given to Deism. A lot of my initial information on Deism was provided by your website. Thank you. But I must tell you I strongly object to your connection between Deism and "socialism, fascism, Nazism, Stalin, Hitler, and Mao." Seriously?! It may be vastly preferable to espouse its influence on the formation of the USA.

Thank you.
One Deist Φ