List of deists
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is a partial list of people who have been categorized as deists, the belief in a God based on natural religion only, or belief in religious truths discovered by people through a process of reasoning, independent of any revelation through scripture or prophets. They have been selected for their influence on Deism, or for their fame in other areas.
- Ethan Allen [6]
- Aristotle [7]
- Marlon Brando [1]
- Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke
- Napoleon Bonaparte [8]
- Cicero [9]
- Benjamin Darrow
- Paul Davies [10]
- Democritus
- Albert Einstein[2]
- Epicurus
- Antony Flew [11]
- Benjamin Franklin [12]
- Frederick the Great [13]
- Edward Herbert, 1st Baron Herbert of Cherbury [14]
- William Hogarth [15]
- Victor Hugo [16] [17]
- David Hume [3]
- James Hutton
- Thomas Jefferson [18]
- Immanuel Kant
- Gotthold Ephraim Lessing [19]
- Abraham Lincoln [20]
- John Locke [21]
- James Madison [22]
- Moses Mendelssohn [23]
- Gouverneur Morris
- Thomas Paine [24]
- Elihu Palmer [25]
- Plato
- Alexander Pope [26]
- Maximilien Robespierre [27]
- Adam Smith [4]
- Lysander Spooner [28]
- Alfred Lord Tennyson
- Matthew Tindal [29]
- John Toland [30]
- Constantin-François de Chassebœuf, Comte de Volney
- Voltaire [31]
- George Washington [5]
- Alan Watts
- Keith R. Wright
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.nndb.com/people/721/000022655/
- ^ Einstein's religious beliefs were complex and sometimes vague. However, it is clear that he did not believe in a personal God, [1], or eternal life [2] and that he saw God as being made known through the study of the natural world and the "harmony of natural laws".[3] Still, some people view his conception of God as extending beyond traditional deism into the realm of pantheism.
- ^ Hume's religious views are very ambiguous, as he lived in a time when explicit opposition to Church doctrine could mean death. Most attempts to analyze his spiritual views are based on his philosophical dialogs, and experts are split on whether he was an atheist or a deist based on these; see also list of atheists. [4]
- ^ The Times obituary of Adam Smith
- ^ Though Washington's religious beliefs are a matter of dispute, there is considerable evidence that indicates that Washington, like numerous other men of his time, was a Deist, believing in God, but not in revelation or miracles. Rev. Dr. James Abercrombie, the rector of Washington's church, responded to an inquiry about Washington's beliefs after his death by saying, "Sir, Washington was a Deist!" However, several of Washington's family members have said that he was Christian, although he did not go to Episcopal Church on communion Sundays and refused an opportunity to meet with a clergyman while on his deathbed. [5]
