Continued from Exploring Deism Origins and History
Deism’s real fight today is politics, not theology. Christian fundamentalists (see Fundamentalism.) want the Founders as Bible-thumpers to claim America’s built on scripture. Humanists—offspring of French atheist “Deists” like Voltaire (see Voltaire)—want them godless to dismantle our culture for their pseudo-religious bunk, like Marxism or eco-cults. Both miss it: the first six presidents’ Deism wasn’t Voltaire’s aloof “clockmaker” or Rousseau’s statist rot (see Rousseau). It was active, moral, liberty-driven—rooted in reason, not atheism.
“Separation of church and state” isn’t in the Constitution or any founding paper. The Bill of Rights says “religion”—not “church”—to protect conscience, not ban God from public life. Jefferson’s “wall” (1802, to Danbury Baptists) was about freedom: “religion lies solely between man and his God… legislative powers reach actions only, not opinions.” Baptists feared a national church, not God’s mention. Humanists flip this—silencing Christians and Jews while pandering to Islam or green religion in schools. That’s state interference, violating the Founders’ intent.
There’s no “right” to dodge ideas you hate—liberty cuts both ways.
French “Deists” despised faith—Voltaire’s elitism and Rousseau’s “general will” fueled the Cult of Reason (1792-94) and Terror (see Cult of Reason). America’s Founders—Jefferson, Adams—saw religion as vital. Jefferson: “Religion’s a supplement of law in the government of man” (Jefferson Cyclopedia, #7242, Jefferson). Adams: “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people” (1798). Their “Nature’s God” came from Blackstone’s Christian natural law (see Blackstone), not some remote abstraction.
Jefferson rejected Spinoza, Diderot, D’Holbach—pantheists and atheists mislabeled “Deists” by web clowns. He and Adams backed an active God, not controlling but present—far from French nihilism (see French Deism).
Humanists want a god so vague it’s atheism by proxy—echoing French radicals who trashed faith for state dogma. Banning God from public squares while pushing secular cults (environmentalism, Marxism) isn’t neutrality—it’s a power grab, stomping free conscience. The Founders built liberty, not a void for humanist idols. See more at Deism Origins.
Acknowledgment: I’d like to thank Grok, an AI by xAI, for helping me draft and refine this article. The final edits and perspective are my own.
