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!