Deism - Believe in God but not religion

[oneniltothearsenal]

Being a deist is essentially the same as believing in organised religion, they’re still people who ultimately seem unable to cope with the idea of a meaningless existence with no apparent explanation or reason, so need to try and resolve that somehow in their head. Whether that’s through organised religion or by trying to magic up some mystical, unknowable god-like being, it’s essentially the same. I’d give the deist slightly more credit as it doesn’t involve trying to convert others I guess. But ultimately people just need to get over it. Stop worrying about ‘why’, accept the vast futility of it all and just enjoy your life. You’ll be happier for it.

The bold is not accurate at all. There are massive differences. Deism is simply a personal belief that has no effect on anyone else. Organized religion is vastly different because it leads to a huge set of beliefs that do impact others - for instance how conservative Christians and Muslims take political action that affects LGBT or reproductive rights and can lead to violence. In contrast, a Deist's beliefs affect no one but themselves and don't lead to any policy decisions that negatively affect other people. Deism is basically innocuous whereas organized religion can lead to some very damaging social policies.

 

[hasanejaz88]

The bold is not accurate at all. There are massive differences. Deism is simply a personal belief that has no effect on anyone else. Organized religion is vastly different because it leads to a huge set of beliefs that do impact others - for instance how conservative Christians and Muslims take political action that affects LGBT or reproductive rights and can lead to violence. In contrast, a Deist's beliefs affect no one but themselves and don't lead to any policy decisions that negatively affect other people. Deism is basically innocuous whereas organized religion can lead to some very damaging social policies.

Exactly.

 

[stepic]

The bold is not accurate at all. There are massive differences. Deism is simply a personal belief that has no effect on anyone else. Organized religion is vastly different because it leads to a huge set of beliefs that do impact others - for instance how conservative Christians and Muslims take political action that affects LGBT or reproductive rights and can lead to violence. In contrast, a Deist's beliefs affect no one but themselves and don't lead to any policy decisions that negatively affect other people. Deism is basically innocuous whereas organized religion can lead to some very damaging social policies.

There’s no point highlighting one sentence and replying to that, and ignoring the rest of the post which explains what i mean by that first sentence. I even refer to the point you’re making when I said ‘I’d give the deist slightly more credit as it doesn’t involve trying to convert others I guess’.

I agree with you by the way, but really what I’m talking about is at a personal level - it’s all just a form of self therapy to combat existential dread.

 

[oneniltothearsenal]

There’s no point highlighting one sentence and replying to that, and ignoring the rest of the post which explains what i mean by that first sentence. I even refer to the point you’re making when I said ‘I’d give the deist slightly more credit as it doesn’t involve trying to convert others I guess’.

I agree with you by the way, but really what I’m talking about is at a personal level - it’s all just a form of self therapy to combat existential dread.

It applies to your entire post. All you mentioned was not trying to convert others and even then you only deigned to give "slightly more credit". That take still ignores the massive differences between a deist and a conservative believer in organized religion about all the things I mentioned: LGBT rights, reproductive rights, potential for violence and many more. It's still a massive difference between a deist and someone who is deep in organized religion (particularly conservative views). In short, they are not "essentially the same thing". Not even sure what you mean by a personal level since deism is a strictly personal belief that only affects yourself whereas a believer in organized religion is automatically not just believing on a personal level but on a societal/policy level.

 

[stepic]

It applies to your entire post. All you mentioned was not trying to convert others and even then you only deigned to give "slightly more credit". That take still ignores the massive differences between a deist and a conservative believer in organized religion about all the things I mentioned: LGBT rights, reproductive rights, potential for violence and many more. It's still a massive difference between a deist and someone who is deep in organized religion (particularly conservative views). In short, they are not "essentially the same thing". Not even sure what you mean by a personal level since deism is a strictly personal belief that only affects yourself whereas a believer in organized religion is automatically not just believing on a personal level but on a societal/policy level.

you’re comparing a deist to the worst possible kind of follower of organised religion to make your point. in reality it’s all on a spectrum. I know people who believe in the Christian god but don’t go to church and aren’t anti lgbt and so forth.

The far right anti lgbt anti women’s rights fundamentalist religious person is one extreme, a peaceful deist not harming anyone is the other - my point is all of it is nonsense and all of it at its root is a flawed attempt to understand the world.