Quotable Quotes

My adaptation of several relatively well known quotes. It's a little longer then I prefer, but it does cover a lot in a small paragraph.

The only thing that makes your particular faith absolutely true, is your absolute faith. It is your faith that matters to you, not truth. And maybe a billion others believe similarly too, but if a billion people believe a lie, it is still a lie. That's what Christians would say of a billion Muslims; that's what Muslims would say of a billion Christians; and that's what I say of two billion with blind faith.
-- One Deist Φ

One Deist Φ

A New Deism for a New World

This is a must-read for those who would practice and promote Deism in a positive light.

Celestial Lands » Blog Archive » A New Deism for a New World.

One Deist Φ

Incredulous Christian

A Christian recently expressed disbelief and skepticism for my claim of peacefulness within Deism. The following represents part of our conversation:

After decades of Christianity I have finally found tremendous peace in Deism. Looking back, I am reminded of the profound faith it took to be a Christian. An unreasonable faith, based on fantasy, fear, myth, prejudice, elementary errors and blatant conflicts as presented in the Bible. For myself, it simply got to the point where I could no longer believe in the perfectness of God as revealed through such an imperfect body of literature. No more apologists, no more rationalizing, no more excuses – it’s just wrong.

G.B. said: I would love to hear more about this ‘tremendous peace’ of which you speak. I hear your feelings about the Christian writings and their story, but I would love to know what specifically your deism offers for you to feel peaceful.

Yes I have tremendous peace in Deism, as well as joy, liberation, comfort in belief, and profound awe of God’s work. I am no longer shackled by the delusions and ascendancy of a select few people, but can lead a sound and fulfilling life which utilizes, to the best of my abilities, the reasonable wisdom of all human history.

The fact is, if you were born into a Muslim family, especially within a Muslim nation, odds are overwhelming that you would be Muslim. And much the same can be said of Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, etc. If you are an adherent of one, you are heretical to another. Choice of religion is societal, not divine.

Most people, if fully informed, would look at Scientology as a complete farce. A mind controlling cult that bilks millions of dollars from adherents, created by a science fiction writing madman. Looking at his organization reasonably and objectively, Hubbard’s methods are easily discounted. Those outside the group find it difficult to understand how those inside could have been manipulated into belief. And these same ideals of reason and objectivity can carried over to Mormonism, Christian Science, Islam, Christianity, Judaism, etc.

Those things considered divine in any given faith will not be found unique to that faith. God, satan, immaculate conception, virgin birth, savior, healing, heaven, hell, miracle, angel, prophet and much more, share a common thread in many faiths. Several of those faiths predate and contributed to Christianity as well as other faiths. I understand that the faithful who read this will feel that theirs is the correct one, and that their holy text is the true word, but there are other compelling faiths which present proof within their holy texts. It is paramount to understand that scripture, in and of itself, is not proof.

G.B. said: If Christianity is false then we’ve added rules and codes, morality and ethic that constrains our taking full advantage of our life in the Now.

YES! I want make clear, though, that as a Deist I believe morality and ethics are very important, but certainly not divine. In other words, it’s through God's gift of Reason we find the answers, not revelation.

Religion, in every instance, stifles the progression of man. It makes the world flat (and the center of the Universe), rather then putting a man on the moon. It prays and lays on hands, rather then giving needed medical attention. It credits God for good and bad, rather then discovering bacteria and antibiotic. It rebukes and murders those who lack identical beliefs, rather then finding peace among cultures. It lives in the past, rather then encouraging and embracing the future.

After all, if we ambitiously learn new things we might find scripture errant and unreasonable, right?

One Deist Φ

Farewell Mom

My heart hurts. My Mom has passed away.

I've been away from my home, and my computer, for the funeral and time with family. While my beliefs are unfaltering and my interests are still the same, I never quite realized how much everything else is so meaningless in times like this.

I'm torn as to what I should share with you, and exactly how much. From my previous post, Letter To My Mother, you already know she was a devout Christian. Her entire existence was an extrapolation of her faith. She spent over thirty years studying, researching, analyzing and writing about the Bible. Mom has one published book, had plans for at least two more, and she was a prolific writer on a personal level. She loved her God, her family, her friends, her home and her cats. But oh how she loved her God. No matter how devastating things might have been at times in Mom's life, she never lost sight of her faith.

I suppose you could say it's my fault. In the late 1960's Mom was an encyclopedia salesperson who liked to target homes with children, and I was an innocent five year old riding my bike on the sidewalk. She asked if I lived nearby; I answered yeah, follow me, and raced back the opposite direction before she could get her car turned around. Mom managed to follow me though, met my Dad, and eventually married him. You see, "Mom" was step-mom to my younger sister and I, and the only Mom we ever really knew. My Dad would later quip that most kids normally drag home a cat or a dog, but I had to drag home a Mom, and his wife.

I must admit, most of those years growing up with Mom were rocky. There always seemed to be tremendous lows and tremendous highs. Seldom, it seems, were there times that were just normal, whatever that would be. It was a roller coaster. What hasn't been revealed to you until now, is that Mom had Bipolar Disorder. I believe it was present, although relatively mild, throughout the time I was being raised, but undiagnosed until years later. I should emphasize that the good times are dominating my thoughts right now. Berry picking, family vacations, picnics, camping and lazy afternoons at the lake. Mom was a great cook, and always had a delicious dinner ready at five sharp. She taught me to love and take care of animals, and she gave me the freedom to explore the world around me. Together, my Mom and Dad taught me to love your spouse through thick and thin ... no matter what. Mom was always a person I could talk to, even if it hurt. She taught me that even guys have to express what's inside now and then, and that an apology is better then stubborn machismo. Mom would always give me the straight answers - and angles not considered - no matter how much I tried to rationalize my point of view. Mom absolutely adored my Dad, for 41 years, and I know she loved us kids equally too.

I left my parent's home at seventeen, never to return except for vacations, which we all cherished. In thirty years of vacations I had never visited my parents during Mother's Day until this year, and you can only imagine how poignant that is to me now. Mom's funeral was made very special by the participation of three of my cousins on Mom's side of the family. It was a traditional Christian ceremony of which my cousins made up nearly the entire event. One cousin performed music, one read passages and hand-written notes from Mom's Bible, and the last provided a sermon and lead vocals. The pastor of the church filled in the gaps and provided other necessary rites. Christian indeed, and I would not have wished for anything different. It revered and honored my Mom and the life she stood for. And although I don't believe as she did, I can only hope she found the Heaven and the God she so very much desired.

Well, I was there for Mom's birth into our family, and I was there at her last breath. I loved my Mom; I respected and honored her; and I am really going to miss her.

One Deist Φ

Discussion With A Christian

A Deist and a Christian (let's call him Boomer) have a conversation on Boomer's blog.

Boomer's blog post was referring to one of those terrifying stories in the Bible, and at the end of his post he quipped, "I truly don't understand how the Deist can believe that God doesn't intervene into history. Left to our own devises, would we not all be aligned with Satan himself?"

I suppose the Deist was motivated to provide a response. Boomer's goal in their discussion, of course, was to save a soul, whereas the Deist wanted to be just a bit more pragmatic and reasonable. Kudos to them both for being very cordial - an interesting read.

A Boomer in the Pew: Brutal Rape, Dismemberment, and a Tribal War.

Stop Blaming God and Satan

"With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion."
-- Dr. Steven Weinberg

These words haunt me.

The entirety of all lives lost in the name of religion haunt me. Parents killing children, nations killing nations, one sect killing another sect - all in the name of their religion. It is all, in it's totality, insanity. Your religion is no excuse, your God is no excuse, your perceived superiority is no excuse.

It is all myth. There is no satan; and God would not ask these things of you. If you choose to do evil things, it is simply your choice to do so, not the choice of God.

I am to the point of equating religion with alcohol - people are drunk with their beliefs. There was a time when alcohol intoxication was a marginal excuse for the evils of man. Now it simply isn't so, and it should be the same with religion. If you kill or hurt anyone, in any way, in the name of your religion or your God, it shall be no excuse for your evil deed. You have done the evil deed at your own sad discretion.

To paraphrase the quote above:

There are good people and evil people in the world. Religion does not make you good if you do evil - you are simply evil.

One Deist Φ

Wholly Unholy

I've seen, somewhere, the Koran described as a copy of a copy of a bad original. Indeed, there are several references to the Bible within the Koran. And of course the entirety of the Bible is an extension of the Pentateuch. And the Pentateuch is crammed full of archaic fables, superstition and mythology. The "miracle" of the fulfilment of a savior - Jesus, and hence Christianity - is derived from one tiny passage from this mythology. This, of course, is just another in the thread of superstitious teachings within all the pages of these "holy books".

So, if the Pentateuch is wrong, doesn't that make the Bible wrong? And if the Bible is wrong, doesn't that make the Koran wrong? And if these are wrong, doesn't that make all related and supporting texts wrong as well? To my simplistic way of thinking, this concept is the "black hole" of all the revealed religions. Once you get the facts nearby, the unstoppable force of the black hole will unwaveringly draw them in faster and faster, extruding the truth for all to see - if you choose to see.

This all started with a blip I heard on the radio of a "believer" touting "facts" from the Bible where it is proposed that people used to live extremely long lives - even eight or nine hundred years. What fantasy! What kind of person really believes this stuff? There is absolutely no scientific evidence that anyone ever lived to that age. No paleontological/archaeological record of this whatsoever. Well, what do you know ... it was God who decided, at some point early in Genesis, we shall only live to about 120 years. But I sure wish we could find just one or two of those skeletal remains that lived 900 years. I'd even take 300 years old, but it will never happen, because it never actually happened.

Not much is reported of this Bible errancy. But along with conflicting stories, dragons,  satyrs, unicorns, a man living in a fish for days, reports of God killing millions of people, etc ... what in the world does it take for people NOT to believe these books?! Seriously.

One Deist Φ

This One Is Golden

There are lots of rules. It seems that during every waking moment our lives are directed by some rule. And if someone disagrees with something we do, there is sure to be a rule which should have precluded us from doing it in the first place.

With few exceptions, our laws and religions are based on one thing -

The Golden Rule

Also known as the Ethic of Reciprocity, it asks that all of us be fair and just to everyone else, and that everyone else be fair and just to us.

It can be prescribed as a negative:
"Don't do to others what you don't want done to yourself."
or as a positive:
"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

Sometimes these are differentiated as The Silver Rule and The Golden Rule, respectively. There are philosophical grounds for the difference, but for me it's only a matter of the glass being half empty or half full. I like my glass half full.

This primitive and fundamental rule of humanity has been debated on principle. It is argued that I don't know what you would have done to yourself and you don't know what I would have done to myself. Also, it's argued that just because you like something, it doesn't mean I would like that same something too. But I would argue another way - the "glass half full" way.

It isn't the literal interpretation of this idea, but the spirit or intention of The Golden Rule that matters to humanity. It isn't necessarily the specific things in our lives to do, but the fact that we would consider doing; it's the consideration of others that matters in our lives. This is important - to have CONSIDERATION of others. The things for consideration change with location, culture, age, and many other human factors. But the fact that we have consideration is what we need to hold dear.

Empathy is the essence of The Golden Rule. It begs us to put ourselves in the place of another. It's good to receive the consideration of others, and it's imperative that we likewise do the same. The Golden Rule, when properly applied, perpetuates itself.

It may be true that we Deists don't have scripture or dogma, but I for one would suggest The Golden Rule as paramount in our religious philosophy, immediately following our belief in God.

I would do this in consideration of you.

One Deist Φ

Deism Is Spiritual, Not Political

I have seen, several times, some people associate Deism with politics, and an assumption that Deists have only a single direction as to their political views. Usually this slant is toward a liberal political party. I have also seen where this behavior of relating Deism to politics pushes people away from Deism.

I believe this is a mistake which we should not make, and certainly we should not repeat. We don't want to lose Deists because of the political views of just a few. Some people are simply more reserved then that, and many do not normally express their political opinions. Even if political views were to be expressed, it would preferably not take place in a spiritual or religious arena. The two are not necessarily related.

But the biggest issue I take with the mix of Deism and politics is this:  As Deists we do not believe in dogma. We don't blindly follow, but use our God given gift of Reason to make our own decisions. Once politics is injected into the equation, suddenly everyone becomes a lemming - Deists are liberals, and liberals are Deists, and there is no in between. If you dissent from the political views of others within the group then you become an outcast, and thus you are scorned and shunned. Suddenly it becomes zealotry, fanaticism and militancy, which is not Deism. Deism is not blind faith in clergy or political leaders, which goes against the very principles of our Deistic beliefs.

I refuse to be a card carrying member of anything except Deism. I will do the research on all matters and reach my own conclusions without the need for political affiliation. I refuse to be a political zombie, mindlessly following  the political crowd.

Let's leave politics out of our spirituality. I believe it makes all of us better Deists.

One Deist Φ

Absolutely Deism

In English grammar there are words called "absolute terms". These are words that cannot be compared or used with a modifier. Words like dead, pregnant, infinite and unique. You don't get a little pregnant, nor is something more infinite. One of the most abused absolute terms is "saturated". You see it all the time in weather reports when the forecaster says "The ground is extremely saturated." No, no, it's either saturated or it's not.

I've felt for some time that Deism should be taken in the same context - as an absolute term. Deism seems so fundamental in nature that we shouldn't add modifiers to the name. We openly have the latitude to apply our own individual beliefs within its broad parameters, but if we apply our own parameters, aren't we changing Deism to our own belief system, requiring a different name?

Let me give you an example - "Christian Deism". This must be the greatest oxymoron in Deism. I have read some descriptions of this school of thought, but am not convinced their nomenclature is proper nor accurate. A Christian is someone who "accepts the divinity of Jesus as Savior and follows his teachings." Most of the Christian Deists say they believe God is active in the world, and they believe in the teachings of Jesus. Deists don't have many tenets, but one of our core beliefs is that God is not active in the Universe; and, generally Deists also reject revelation. So, "Christian Deism" in its very foundation is not Deism at all. (And I dare say, not Christian either.) Obviously they can call it what they like, but it doesn't benefit the cause of Deism in any way whatsoever. It would be nice if folks are going to make up their own religion, that they would make up their own name too.

As a Deist I encourage all of us to use our tremendous gift of Reason to learn from the wisdom of the past. To use our mind is to fully realize God's blessing to humanity. Just because we follow some of the teachings of Buddha does not make us Buddhist Deists. If we are comfortable with a few of the lessons of Zoroaster it doesn't mean we are Zoroastrian Deists. Using Plato as our philosophical compass doesn't make us Platonian Deists. As Deists we should acknowledge the brilliance of great people. We're free, not only to explore all of the sages, but to apply their wisdom to our lives while discarding the outdated notion that they were divine. We are simply being great Deists!

To me, modifying the name of Deism is kind of fatal.

One Deist Φ