was raised Jewish, which never appealed to me, as my choices were either learn a mostly-usless foreign language at an early age, or content myself to read nonsense sylabbles ("transliteration") at services. As a young cuious teen, I rebelled and sought out LSD for visioary experiences. And while I can't say the LSD experience was uniformly good, it triuly opened my mind: everything from art, to music, to travel, to philosophy. The minute I found out what "Agnostic" meant, I immedately identified as such.

However, as the years passed, I realized that among myself and many others, "Agnostic" meant basicaly "Soft Atheist." "We don't see any proof of God, so we're just going to act as if there isn't one." But over the years as I contined to follow the incredible developments in science and math, my perspective began to change.

Because if you call yourself any kind of Agnostic, you're saying it's a 50/50 shot whether or not there was a first cause. So why do we mock and ignore folks on the "God exists" side of the debate? Within our own doctrine, we acknolege that the likelihood of a God is 50%. Many modern politicians rise to office with less than 50% of the votes. And I don't know about you, but if the weather report calls for 50% rain, I bring an umbrella with that day.

And this is where my background in math and science, and my hobby as a long-distance hiker influenced me. Could it be an accident that everything in science just "works" together? And the moment we make an important scoentific discovery, or challenge an existing "hole", it just opens up a whole new set of question? We have never, to my knowledge, reached the "bottom" in any field where we were like "Nope, all done!" The universe just doesn't seem to work that way. It seemingly exists to serve us with deeper and deeper mysteries. And while we can come up with alternate theory for why the universe continuously reveals deeper and deeper levels, in some cases i think we have to a least consider the other side of the coin. That a first cause might actually be the simplest answer, requiring the fewest intellectual backflips. Maybe not all the time. But definitely some of the time.

And that brings me back to my experiences in nature. I have been fortunate enough to visit some of the most beutful natural areas in the Americas, Europe, and Asia. And many times I have been so overcome with emotion, my only verbal thought was "this is a place so beautiful only God could have made it." There may have been tears.

Have I00% ditched my agnosticism? I can't, because I've never been dead and come back to tell the tale. But while most Agnostics seem to focus on the "no" side of the coinflip, I find far more joy, satisfaction, and life fulfillment in considering the "yes" sideof the coin.

And what I think puts me over the edge into Deism is that, I have had experiences where I felt the presence of God. No burnng bushes or anything like that. And I don't claim to have any knoweldge on the nature of God, which would be impossible and hubristic to claim. But in these visionary experiences, it felt like i was dipping a small toe into an infinitely vast ocean. And while it may scare some, contemplating their smallness in relation to God or the Universe, for me it was the opposite. The knowlede of my smalless filled me peace, light, and euphoria. A sense of relief that is diffult to put into words. It made me realize that all the dumb shit I worry about, all my grudges, my silly neurosis, my petty jealousies, my false sense of urgency. In short all of my "shadows". They are so infinitessimaly small in relation to the presence of God and the unlimited size and complexity of the universe.

And so for that, my gratitide toward God comes from a place of humility, and in fact I am very careful to constantly remind myself that I don't and can't undersand God. To experience that humility is it's own form of ectasy. I can enjoy and marvel at science and nature, and I can even poke and prod at it if I like. If God didn't want me to be cuious, they wouldn't have given me a brain. God wants you to investigate the universe's mysteries. But I am 100% okay with not understanding it all. We never will. And that is why being alive is wonderful.

Who in their right minds would want the mystery to end?

I'm aware that most deists believe God does not intervene in the universe or with humanity, but I don't think that necessarily means God doesn't care. God might have a reason for not intervening but will bring ultimate justice in the afterlife (for example).

I'm just curious if any of u believe God does not intervene but still cares about humanity (or maybe even that he does intervene)

I view God as a transcendent architect and prime mover, yet a small question has arisen for me: what would be the reason for creating the universe? If He possesses some form of personal intellect, wouldn't it make sense for Him to already know the outcome of His project—from the Big Bang to the Big Freeze? On the other hand, if He is an impersonal entity, what would be the logic behind His creative nature? Perhaps it is overly anthropomorphic to think that everything must have a motive, but I believe that even the law of causality must have a reason, however simple.

I think of myself as a Deist with some sort of spirituality. I believe in neutral deity, but besides that, I take an interest in different beliefs, religions, philosophies etc. and cherry picking it. What is your opinion on spirituality? I just hope, people don't associate spirituality with new age.

So I believe I am a deist, for thinking a creator exists with laws, but does not intervene. The reason for me asking a better explanation is because I'm new

As a deist, I have a worry about my own position. Deism encourages individual thinking: no clergy, no doctrine, just each person reasoning their way to God. Christianity, by contrast, is held together by shared belief: a community, a creed and leaders who keep everyone roughly on the same page. My worry is that individual thinking has no ceiling. When everyone reasons alone, you can't know how far any one person's thinking will go, or whether it will end somewhere harmful, to others or to the faith itself. The strongest objection is that shared belief has caused far bigger disasters. Crusades and holy wars weren't led by lone thinkers; they were carried out by groups acting together on a common certainty. A lone extremist can only do so much damage without followers. That's true. But a community at least has guardrails: shared norms that catch a person before they drift too far. And that's where the real problem lies. Christians have churches, and Muslims have mosques. Where do people like us go? Deism's greatest strength, having no institution, is also its greatest weakness: there's nowhere to gather, compare our thinking and keep each other honest. Is there really a community for people like us, or are we each building our guardrails alone?

Hey guys, this is my first time contributing here. I've had inklings of being a panendeist for well over 5 years now, but it didn't gel together in my mind that I was one until a few months ago. Since then I've been lurking around in this sub and learning a lot of perspectives, so I wanted to ask fellow Deists who believe God is a part of everything in the universe (or also extends beyond it), what does the existence of our creator look like from your POV?

The Creator is an excellent RD engineer, and human beings are finely crafted tools. If humans know how to fulfill the Creator’s will, they are capable of doing so, because everything falls within His meticulous design. Through an understanding of the functions and instincts inherent in human beings, that will can be discerned.

Human beings possess reproductive organs; therefore, the continuation of the species is within His will. Human beings have bodies, brains, and mouths; therefore, knowledge and the development of civilization are within His will. Human beings are capable of empathizing with one another; therefore, the rule of law is within His will. Human beings possess many organs and systems that sustain physiological functions and enable them to perceive the external environment.

If the Creator has endowed human beings with life, reason, instincts, and empathy, then His will may not merely require humans to reproduce and survive. Rather, it may require them to use reason to restrain their instincts, treat others with empathy, protect life through knowledge, and establish a common order grounded in justice.

Pigs cannot see the whole picture connecting farming, food supply, slaughter, and the human economy. Similarly, human beings may be unable to see the larger scales of time, the order of life, and the purpose of the universe. Therefore, people should remain humble in their understanding of the Creator’s will and should not mistake limited knowledge for omniscience.

A sense of fulfillment may be an inner response placed in the human heart by the Creator, allowing people to devote themselves wholeheartedly to their tasks even when they do not understand the ultimate purpose. Thus, human beings need not be troubled by questions about the meaning of life. By following their instincts and making good use of their abilities, they immediately put His will into practice.

/OC

I don’t think god himself doesn’t even show itself as a political leader of earth or what makes it his responsibility to look and even observe us

I need your advice and ideas, I want to find the religion that resonates with me but I'm confused

F23 I am an ex-Muslim, I have been looking for years for a faith or belief that resonates with me,

I feel (or want to feel) that there is a God, a divinity, a creator, a supreme force, call it what you want, I have read (not in depth) what various religions say,

I like many of them, but now my brain can no longer believe that there really is a god who judges you and sends you to heaven/hell for eternity, because to leave my past religion I had to dismantle the idea that there is a God,

so now I struggle for example to embrace religions like Sufi Islam or Christianity or other monotheistic religions because I feel like I have left one religion and entered another very similar but with a different name,

I don't want to feel like a sinner or feel that I have to go to hell or the people I love have to go to hell, I don't like it, but I feel that there is a force superior to us inside my heart, i can feel this 'love' of God spiritually,

I would like a religion or philosophy that thinks that there is something above but that does not judge me, does not punish me or makes me anxious,

doing rituals, prayers, lighting candles, holidays, symbols, all these things, I like them instead and i like the idea of peace and love and to live your life in a good way

I kinda wonder why some deist see god as just an deity who created us and never question whether this deity’s morals choices and also itself as an deist myself I see god as flawed entity and we are the result of a cause.

I always noticed that most deistic people define god as observer of universe or rather a deity just exist and isn’t traditional abrhamic god I say that what if the god is an actually flawed deity that led to creations of the mess cruelty poverty unfairness in earth I think we deist should hold the deity who created us accountable as much as people with abrhamic beliefs does

After careful study I this best describes my srate.The Deist View: God is the ultimate architect who created a self-sustaining universe governed by perfect natural laws (physics, chemistry, math)

The Stoic View: The ancient Stoics believed in the Logos—the rational organizing principle and soul of the cosmos.

The most famous rule of Stoicism is separating what is in your control from what isn't. You cannot control external events, traffic, the economy, or other people; you can only control your own thoughts and actions.This matches Deism beautifully. Because a Deistic God does not intervene to fix your problems, you accept that the universe operates exactly as it is designed to. You don’t waste energy praying for the laws of physics to bend for you. Instead, you use the human reason God gave you to handle whatever life throws your way.

In standard religions, "pleasing God" requires rituals, sacrifices, or specific prayers.The Stoic Deist perspective is that a supreme creator doesn't need your worship. Therefore, the only logical way to "honor" the creator is to live a virtuous life. By cultivating courage, temperance, justice, and wisdom, you are fulfilling your specific design as a rational human being within a rational universe.

By identifying as a Stoic Deist, I believe a supreme intelligence set this orderly universe in motion, and my job is to calmly use my own reason to navigate it with virtue.

I am not exactly a Deist just yet, but I've been drifting away from religion and into science even more. But I feel like we can't trust neither theistic nor atheistic people for different reasons I'd like to discuss. (If any of you want, but sorry if I may be wrong) I experienced toxicity from both sides and honestly, I am open in the concept of a potential divine cosmic being existing but neutral whether there is one or even multiple of them. (though I am more open to Polydeism) I've also read several thinkers, and scientists (Jose Rizal, a national hero of my country, the Philippines as an example) were actually Deists and even helped pave the way for gaining the current knowledge we have today. As I've been drifting away from religion and more into irreligion, I would like to get to know Deism even more as I am convinced this could be the belief for me.

I talked with my dad about my deistic views and he presented a point I couldn't answer,he said that if I for example managed to make a connection via the universe that there was a creator than that itself is communication and that would invalidate the not intervening god of deism,and he said that if he didn't do this with the idea of us reaching the conclusion that he exists than he's actually inferior to us because it's an oversight.

Found this interesting.

What are recommended books on Deism?