Deism is a natural religion. We tend to think of Deism having its beginnings during the period leading up to and including the Enlightenment. But the argument can be made that the essence of Deism, natural religion, actually dates back much further. In mainstream revealed religions the Deity reveals the truth through special revelation. In natural religion we learn about God from nature by figuring our what is and what ought to be by examining evidence that is available to everyone. The Origins of Deism gateway page begins with natural religion and leads you to some of the early Deists, the English Deists of the Enlightenment, the French Deists and American Deism. A few notes will be made about Deism in the 19th century.

Wikipedia defines natural religion (natural theology) as "a branch of theology based on reason and ordinary experience, explaining the gods rationally, as part of the physical world." The ancient Greeks, particularly the Stoics, used the term "natural religion". Plato used reason to argue the existence of the gods, and Aristotle conceived of a first cause or unmoved mover. This is essentially the same as the Cosmological Argument, a concept of God argued by early Deists.

We will not try to duplicate here the many excellent histories of Deism that are available on the Net. One of my own favorite sources is John Lindell's Christian Deist Fellowship site. John lives a few miles away in Austin, and I have great respect for his research abilities. We have spent some time talking about the early Deists. I was fortunate enough to get some information from Jarley, a friend from Rio de Janeiro, about Dr. Thomas Young when I was modernizing Reason, the Only Oracle of Man. John took a couple of articles I referred him to and ordered a book that contained a biography written by Dr. Young's brother. As a result, you will find a nice article about Dr. Thomas Young there. I suggest you read it with John's other articles on the history of Deism.

During the course of writing the recent book on Deism, I came to the conclusion that, while Deism has its modern roots in the Reformation as a continuation of the process of criticizing the excesses of the Church, Deism is very much a revival of natural religion based on reason and common sense. I hope to expand this history section in the future.