The authors of the Declaration of Independence did not define the United States as a Deist nation by accident.  The Declaration states that God is the source of the natural universe.  It states that God is the source of natural laws, and natural (self-evident) truths, and natural (unalienable) rights.  The Declaration does not recognize God as confirmed through any divine revelation.  This makes the God of the Declaration of Independence a Deist God.  It defines a thing called Natural Deism, and it makes Natural Deism the primary guiding principle of the USA’s form of government, which is a Deist Democratic Republic.

In Natural Deism, natural truths are most relevant.  Truths that come from belief systems are not irrelevant as long as they do not contradict natural truths. The US founders set up this system of Natural Deism to help ground the government in natural truth.  When a government acts according to natural truths it is more likely to lead to a better quality of life for its citizens.  The non-natural truths found in belief systems tend to take government away from natural truths and lead to unhappiness.

Belief systems generally take one of two forms; beliefs of religion, and beliefs of reason.

Religious beliefs are usually easy to identify.  When we accept that God reveals truths to humanity through some form of divine revelation, we are following religious belief.  The US founders understood that when a government accepts the non-natural truths of divine revelation as its guiding rule, tyrants would eventually use those non-natural truths as tools of oppression.  Fortunately, those kinds of truths are easy to recognize because they always begin with divine revelation.  We don’t want tyrants to use the non-natural truths of religion to bring oppression to our citizens, so we maintain a clear separation between church and state.

Reason is when we form a system of rationale for making decisions.  Reason contains non-natural truths, just as religion does.  Sometimes we come to logical conclusions based on incorrect information.  Sometimes we act out of some kind of social conditioning, and reason provides rationale for our actions.

Some social conditioning is cultural.  We  believe something is true simply because our culture says it is true. 

Some social conditioning is suggestive, meaning that an authority we trust suggests to us that something is true and we accept it as true in a hypnotic way.  After we act on the suggestion we rationalize after the fact why we did what we just did. People under hypnosis commonly exhibit rationalization.  Nazi Germany provides an excellent example of suggestion and rationale on a large social scale.

Most people reading this already recognize the abuses of religion, so I don’t need to discuss the history of religious abuse.  More subtle is the abuse of reason.  We see the abuse of reason most clearly in socialism.  The abuses of Hitler, Lenin, Stalin, Pol Pot, and Mao are all examples of reason leading to tyranny and oppression.  We find the abuse of reason more difficult to recognize when it is forming because it has nothing substantive and obvious to call it out.  With religion, we can point to the obvious fact that government is making decisions based on a claim of divine revelation.  There is nothing similar to make reason stand out easily.

The beginnings of the abuse of reason can still be recognized, however, when we see government replacing the role of God in defining rights in contradiction to Natural Deism.  Natural Deism provides an order:  God creates nature, and as part of nature God creates natural rights.  The citizens base their system of government on natural rights.  The citizens are subservient to God, the government is subservient to the citizens and through the citizens the government is subservient to God.

In contrast, when reason is abused, the government replaces the role of God in the social order.  Government,not God, defines the rights of its citizens.  The government-defined rights always make the citizens subservient to the state.  We recognize when reason is being abused when we see the government standing in place of God, not just by defining rights, but eventually by defining what is and is not true.

Natural Deism prevents the insidious abuse of reason just as it prevents the more obvious abuse of religion.  Any society without this understanding will eventually collapse, perhaps falling into the hands of a dictator.

I sometimes read on the Internet about how Deism is the belief in God through Reason. This is a dangerous belief to promote. If an individual chooses to accept this, there is little or no harm done. But if a society accepts this, the society has setting itself up for collapse. Socially, Deism must be held to the standard of Naturalness, not Reasonableness. Socially, Natural Deism will promote freedom and stability, but a Reasonist Deism will eventually lead to a society’s collapse. A clear example of this is found in the US history of Deism..

One of the most often quoted of the early US Deists is Thomas Paine. Paine was a Reasonist Deist. He and others were strong advocates of Reason, and frequently criticized Christianity. Christians took exception to this of course. The Christians worked over time to stamp out Deism because the Reasonist Deists challenged Christianity. 

Paine argued passionately for Reason. The offensive character of his arguments and similar arguments of others led to the social downfall of the public acceptance of Deism. The rationale of the Reasonists ignored the natural truths: Christianity was socially dominant and would stomp out any movement that threatened it. People are religious by nature, and not inclined to tolerate threats to their religiously held beliefs..

230 years later Deism is barely a memory even though Deism is the foundation of the US form of Democratic Republican government. If the Reasonists had let go of their fanaticism we would probably still have a large, open and knowledgable Deist society today.

Reasonist Deism led to the collapse of Deist society and was all but forgotten until recently when Deism began to revive through the Internet. For a modern Deist movement to succeed, it must publicly renounce Reasonist Deism and adopt a more rational Natural Deism as its standard, otherwise it will face an assault from the still powerful Christians.

Thomas Paine, the devout reasonist, died alone and friendless, which speaks volumes to the personal value of the personal belief in Reasonist Deism.

With these understandings we are faced with an ongoing issue. Human beings are religious and reasonable by nature. We follow belief systems because that is how we are made. Our ongoing challenge is allowing those two better angels of our nature to guide us to light, while preventing them from becoming devils paving a path of good intentions that will lead us into a dark place.

If our nation were just a Democratic Republic, we would eventually descend to that flavor of democracy which is sometimes described as two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner. Without a Deist orientation we would become a Christian Democratic Republic, or a Socialist Democratic Republic, or something similar. By the design of the founders, we are none of those. Deism in government is a requirement for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, so we are now and must remain forever a Deist Democratic Republic. And the standard of Deism is now and must remain Natural Deism.

Stumble it!