Ok, so the terms Theism and Deism are going to come up quite a bit as you explore the concepts of belief and non-belief. I thought it would be beneficial for everyone to have just a brief overview of these two concepts so that we can take the mystery out of them. Let’s start with Theism. 

Theism is the belief in god or gods that created the world, and are actively participating in events, past and present. It is a belief in a personal god that is involved in your life. This type of god can suspend the laws of our universe to enact miracles. Modern day Christianity is an example of a Theistic belief system. Many Christians believe in having a personal relationship with Jesus, and in the existence of miracles. Belief in faith healing is an example of a Theist belief. By definition, all Monotheistic religions on the planet believe in a god like this. It’s important to note the key element of Theistic belief is God’s involvement in world events large and small. This is the opposite of Deism.

Deism is a belief in a god of first cause. What does this mean? It means a, non-specific, undefined god ordered and set into motion the world and universe as we know it, but he/it is no longer involved with its creation. This type of god is not personal. It does not speak to you, and it does not involve itself in any of the affairs of the universe. No miracles, no interventions. It is important to discern between these two concepts of god, Theistic and Deistic, especially in debate or argument. Theistic god’s are very specific, have names, and are involved. A Deistic god is not specific and is not involved.

It is relatively easy to debate the existence of a Theistic god, because the claims for this type of god are so extraordinary and specific. They require extraordinarily specific evidence. Arguing the existence of this type of god is easy since evidence is in short supply, and the little there is is subjective and does not stand well to scrutiny. The Deistic type of god is a tougher nut to crack since it is a far more abstract concept. This god lacks the specific definitions of modern day religions deities. Deism, on its face, is not a provable or disprovable idea. Oftentimes, in debate, Theists will try to angle their arguments into this Deistic realm specifically for this reason. It is important to notice when this happens, and to not let it trick you into thinking they are scoring points on you. They are no longer speaking about their specific god anymore. They are also, oftentimes, jumping headlong into something known as the Appeal to Ignorance logical fallacy which asserts that just because you can’t prove something exists it means that that something must exist. Here watch. You can’t prove to me there isn’t a flying spaghetti monster which means he absolutely must exist. Ramen! 

Listen to our podcast about Deism vs Theism here or listen on Spotify