Subject: | Re: 77% of Americans believe a virgin can give birth
| Date: | Mon, 20 Oct 2003 22:33:52 GMT
| From: | Snoopy <snoopy@charlie.brown's>
| Newsgroups: | soc.culture.indian,alt.bonehead.jai-maharaj,alt.atheism,misc.writing.screenplays,soc.culture.usa
|
nmstevens wrote:
> Well, what you seem to be brushing up against is a belief known as
> "deism" -- the notion that the universe arose through the action of
> some sort of intelligent agency of some kind -- but one which does not
> take any active, on-going role in its operation - thus no miracles, no
> divine intervention, no divine "personality," -- no anthropomorphic
> qualities of any sort attached to said originating force. It simply
> created the universe -- and that's pretty much it.
>
> Deism was actually a fairly popular belief amongst the well-educated
> in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century -- a number of the
> founding fathers ascribed to it.
>
> But if push came to shove, I would certainly describe it as a form of
> theism. No holidays, no miracles, no worship -- but it certainly
> involves believing in the existence of a supernatural (in some sense)
> creator of the universe.
That's very interesting! Perhaps I'm a deist, then! See my response to
Al Klein. Thanks!
|