Our founding Fathers, Deist Revolution.

Today June 8th marks the 200th anniversary of the death of Thomas Paine. If it wasn't for Thomas Paine the American Revolution probably would not have been started, let alone won. John Adams said, "Without the pen of Paine, the sword of Washington would have been wielded in vain." Thomas Paine believed in Deism along with Jefferson. Learn what Deism really is by clicking the Badge below Then click the video on the right It could be you and you will know by the feelings of compassion God has placed in your heart. Send Message Add Comment Share Channel Add to iGoogle http://www.youtube.com/DeistReality      Permission to copy as long as you use Al after it. Using God Given Reasoning Power and Al's Philosophy.. When one gives Religious or Magical Things what they insist is a fact that only works in the one place for their reasoning to be accepted as truth and that in other similar situations gives an entirely different answer, Do not believe their analysis of what constitutes a fact. Al. Remember: Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass... it's about learning to dance in both Sun and rain! Al. My Blog My Website My Portfolio Public Profile http://www.linkedin.com/in/verhoevenalfredp http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IKgNEmomkc

George Washington and Deism

Deists have a great example of toleration, perseverance, and integrity in the person of fellow Deist George Washington.

Christian preachers who ardently wanted Washington to be portrayed as one of them have made up many stories of George Washington's strong Christian beliefs. One of the primary purveyors of these propaganda pieces was Mason Locke Weems, a Christian preacher who came up with the fable of George Washington and the cherry tree. He also feverishly promoted the myth of George Washington and Christianity.

Washington, like many people in colonial America, belonged to the Anglican church and was a vestryman in it. But in early America, particularly in pre-revolutionary America, you had to belong to the dominant church if you wanted to have influence in society, as is illustrated by the following taken from Old Chruches, Ministers and Families of Virginia, by Bishop William Meade, I, p 191. "Even Mr. Jefferson, and George Wythe, who did not conceal their disbelief in Christianity, took their parts in the duties of vestrymen, the one at Williamsburg, the other at Albermarle; for they wished to be men of influence."

In the book Washington and Religion by Paul F. Boller, Jr., we read on page 92, "Washington was no infidel, if by infidel is meant unbeliever. Washington had an unquestioning faith in Providence and, as we have seen, he voiced this faith publicly on numerous occasions. That this was no mere rhetorical flourish on his part, designed for public consumption, is apparent from his constant allusions to Providence in his personal letters. There is every reason to believe, from a careful analysis of religious references in his private correspondence, that Washington’s reliance upon a Grand Designer along Deist lines was as deep-seated and meaningful for his life as, say, Ralph Waldo Emerson’s serene confidence in a Universal Spirit permeating the ever shifting appearances of the everyday world."

On page 82 of the same book, Boller includes a quote from a Presbyterian minister, Arthur B. Bradford, who was an associate of Ashbel Green another Presbyterian minister who had known George Washington personally. Bradford wrote that Green, "often said in my hearing, though very sorrowfully, of course, that while Washington was very deferential to religion and its ceremonies, like nearly all the founders of the Republic, he was not a Christian, but a Deist."

Like truly intelligent people in all times and places, Washington realized how very little we know about life and the workings of the universe. He wrote that the ways of Providence were "inscrutable." Yet he DID the very best he could in all aspects of his life. When things were dark and it looked like the Revolution would be lost, he never gave up. Even when people in his own ranks were turning on him and trying to sink him he persevered because of his deep heartfelt Deistic belief in Providence.

George Washington coupled his genuine belief in Providence with action. After the American defeat at Germantown in 1777 he said, "We must endeavor to deserve better of Providence, and, I am persuaded, she will smile on us." He also wrote that we should take care to do our very best in everything we do so that our, "reason and our own conscience approve."

Washington's toleration for differing religions was made evident by his order to the Continental Army to halt the observance of Pope's Day. Pope's Day was the American equivalent of Guy Fawkes' Day in England. A key part of Pope's Day was the burning of the effigy of the Pope. In his order, Washington described the tradition as, "ridiculous and childish" and that there was no room for this type of behavior in the Continental Army.

The altruism and integrity that Washington possessed is made evident by his restraint in his personal gains. At the successful conclusion of the American Revolution he could have made himself dictator for life. Or he could have allowed others to make him king. Yet, like the Roman General Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus before him, Washington refused to do either.

Preacher Weems has written that on Washington's death bed, "Washington folded his arms decently on his breast, then breathing out 'Father of mercies, take me to thyself,' - he fell asleep." Like almost all of what the Christian fundamentalists have written about Washington, this is not true.

Tobias Lear, Washington's secretary, was with him when he died. The following is his account of Washington's death.



"About ten o'clk he made several attempts to speak to me before he could effect it, at length he said, -'I am just going. Have me decently buried; and do not let my body be put into the vault in less than three days after I am dead.' I bowed assent, for I could not speak. He then looked at me again and said, 'Do you understand me?' I replied, 'Yes.' 'Tis well,' said he.

"About ten minutes before he expired (which was between ten and eleven o'clk) his breathing became easier; he lay quietly; - he withdrew his hand from mine, and felt his own pulse. I saw his countenance change. I spoke to Dr. Craik who sat by the fire; - he came to the bed side. The General's hand fell from his wrist - I took it in mine and put it into my bosom. Dr. Craik put his hands over his eyes and he expired without a struggle or a sigh!"

Like other Deists such as Paine, Jefferson, Voltaire, Franklin, and Allen, Washington did not fear death but looked at it as just another part of nature. Though he didn't speculate much on an after-life, he was comfortable to look at his own death as part of God's design.

George Washington offers us a tremendous example of altruism and positive action. His actions tell us stronger than any words could possibly do to persevere in the face of all obstacles. To never give up and to always combine our sincerely held beliefs with action.

Find out how you can learn much more about George Washington and American History via an online college. The more Deists secure educations in fields like history, the more they can influence professions such as education to enlighten society to the reality of Deism!

Is Deism a cult? It's impossible for Deism to be a cult because Deism teaches self-reliance and encourages people to constantly use their reason. Deism teaches to "question authority" no matter what the cost.

Unlike the revealed religions, Deism makes no unreasonable claims. The revealed religions encourage people to give up, or at least to suspend, their God-given reason. They like to call it faith. For example, how logical is it to believe that Moses parted the Red Sea, or that Jesus walked on water, and that a Catholic Priest has the power through his office; creating transubstantiation (A word invented by the Roman Church to describe a new faith only happening) with the dying of Jesus on the altar in the celebration of and that by this every catholic must believe this former unleavened flat disk as the sun appeared to the ancient gentiles slowly trying to change their Apollo God religions to satisfy the dictates of Constantine; their despotic dictator. The Bishops and all priest now is the real presence of the body and blood of their deity, Jesus an Angel bringing it down from the New Holy City, Jerusalem in the sky where Mass is constantly being celebrated in union with the worshippers on Earth while angels sing and the Father sits on a throne and Jesus sits on the right side or that Mohammed received the Koran from an angel? Suspending your reason enough to believe these tales only sets a precedent that leads to believing a Jim Jones or David Koresh.

f Deism teaches a belief in God, then what is the difference between Deism and the other religions like Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, etc.? Deism is based on nature and reason, not "revelation." All the other religions (with the possible exception of Taoism, although superstition does play a role in both Buddhism and Taoism) make claim to special divine revelation or they have requisite "holy" books. Deism has neither. In Deism there is no need for a preacher, priest or rabbi. All one needs in Deism is their own common sense and the creation to contemplate.

Also, "revealed" religions, especially Christianity and Islam, use greed and fear to catch and hold converts. The greed is belonging to their "revealed" religion so you can get rewards such as eternal life, and in Christianity, anything you ask for. In combination with greed they use fear of death. Deism does neither. Deism teaches that we should do what is right simply because it's the right thing to do. And Deism doesn't pretend we know what, if anything, happens to us after our bodies die. We love and trust God enough not to worry about it. As Thomas Paine wrote, "I consider myself in the hands of my Creator, and that He will dispose of me after this life consistently with His justice and goodness. I leave all these matter to Him, as my Creator and friend, and I hold it to be presumption in man to make an article of faith as to what the Creator will do with us hereafter."

Deism: The Religion of our Founding Fathers. Deism teaches a belief in God. With a big difference between the God who demands of His subjects to kill those who dare to oppose Him and His Holy Word ie: religions like Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, etc.? Deism is based on nature and reason, not "revelation." All the other religions (with the possible exception of Taoism, although superstition does play a role in both Buddhism and Taoism) make claim to special divine revelation or they have requisite "holy" books. Deism has neither. In Deism there is no need for a preacher, priest or rabbi. All one needs in Deism is their own common sense and the creation to contemplate. It is High Time for us, People of Reason, to educate and bring back their Natural God given Reason throwing the twisted blocking of reason definition of faith into the light of fresh air. Thus You Will Save our world from needless Hebrew and Christian Islamic, Nuclear war. In which it is claimed and through a twisted definition of Faith still believed enough to kill or die trying to prove the same God ruling the ancient minds of the Middle East who told? His favorites a story through the book revealing His divine Word written for posterity ; each tribe recording a different slant and of coarse favoring each accordingly to his own. Just enough to have kept the Middle East in warring turmoil over 5,000 Years! and has spread to Western thought through Emperor Constantine using Christianity as a constant to save and glue his crumbling Empire with changes making it acceptable to the Roman Gentile Apollo worshiping Mindset. Gods law of circumcision: revoked. God's dietary law: revoked. Gods original Hatred of all not born a Chosen Jew: revoked. (Naming just a few).

It is curious to observe how the theory of what is called the Christian church

Sprung out of the tail of the heathen mythology. A

Direct incorporation took place in the first instance, by making the

Reputed founder to be celestially begotten. The trinity of gods that

Then followed was no other than a reduction of the former plurality,

Which was about twenty or thirty thousand: the statue of Mary

Succeeded the statue of Diana of Ephesus; the deification of heroes

Changed into the canonization of saints; the Mythologists had gods for

Everything; the Christian Mythologists had saints for everything;

The church became as crowded with one, as the Pantheon had been

With the other, and Rome was the place of both. The Christian theory

Is little else than the idolatry of the ancient Mythologists,

Accommodated to the purposes of power and revenue; and it yet

Remains to reason and philosophy to abolish the amphibious fraud.

As a child Jupiter asked Diana what she like to have as gifts.

She replied that she wanted eternal virginity (in the sense of

Always being true to her own nature), as many names as Apollo,

a bow and arrow like Apollo's, the office of bringing light

(providing guidance to others), a saffron tunic with a red

Hem, and nine nymphs as her maidens.

It is, however, not difficult to account for the credit that was

Given to the story of Jesus Christ being the son of God. He was born

When the heathen mythology had still some fashion and repute in the

World, and that mythology had prepared the people for the belief of

Such a story. Almost all the extraordinary men that lived under the

Heathen mythology were reputed to be the sons of some of their gods.

It was not a new thing, at that time, to believe a man to have been

Celestially begotten; the intercourse of gods with women was then a

Matter of familiar opinion. Their Jupiter, according to their

Accounts, had cohabited with hundreds: the story, therefore, had

Nothing in it either new, wonderful, or obscene; it was conformable to

The opinions that then prevailed among the people called Gentiles,

Or Mythologists, and it was those people only that believed it. The

Jews who had kept strictly to the belief of one God, and no more,

And who had always rejected the heathen mythology, never credited

The story.

When also I am told that a woman called the Virgin Mary, said,

Or gave out, that she was with child without any cohabitation with a

Man, and that her betrothed husband, Joseph, said that an angel told

Him so, I have a right to believe them or not; such a circumstance

Required a much stronger evidence than their bare word for it; but

We have not even this- for neither Joseph nor Mary wrote any such

Matter themselves; it is only reported by others that they said

So- it is hearsay upon hearsay, and I do not choose to rest my belief

Upon such evidence.

When I am told that the Koran was written in Heaven and brought

To Mahomet by an angel, the account comes too near the same kind of

hearsay evidence and second-hand authority as the former. I did not

see the angel myself, and, therefore, I have a right not to believe

it.

When Moses told the children of Israel that he received the two

tables of the commandments from the hands of God, they were not

obliged to believe him, because they had no other authority for it

than his telling them so; and I have no other authority for it than

some historian telling me so. The commandments carry no internal

evidence of divinity with them; they contain some good moral

Precepts, such as any man qualified to be a lawgiver, or a legislator,

Could produce himself, without having recourse to supernatural

intervention.*

*It is, however, necessary to except the declaration which says

that God visits the sins of the fathers upon the children; it is

contrary to every principle of moral justice.

It is a contradiction in terms and ideas, to call anything a

revelation that comes to us at second-hand, either verbally or in

writing. Revelation is necessarily limited to the first

communication- after this, it is only an account of something which

that person says was a revelation made to him; and though he may

find himself obliged to believe it, it cannot be incumbent on me to

believe it in the same manner; for it was not a revelation made to me,

and I have only his word for it that it was made to him.

No one will deny or dispute the power of the Almighty to make such

a communication, if he pleases. But admitting, for the sake of a case,

that something has been revealed to a certain person, and not revealed

To any other person, it is revelation to that person only. When he tells

It to a second person, a second to a third, a third to a fourth,

and so on, it ceases to be a revelation to all those persons. It is

revelation to the first person only, and hearsay to every other, and

consequently they are not obliged to believe it.

Each of those churches show certain books, which they call

revelation, or the word of God. The Jews say, that their word of God

was given by God to Moses, face to face; the Christians say, that

their word of God came by divine inspiration: and the Turks say,

that their word of God (the Koran) was brought by an angel from

Heaven. Each of those churches accuse the other of unbelief; and for

my own part, I disbelieve them all.

TO MY FELLOW-CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:

I PUT the following work under your protection. It contains my

opinions upon Religion. You will do me the justice to remember, that I

have always strenuously supported the Right of every Man to his own

opinion, however different that opinion might be to mine. He who

denies to another this right, makes a slave of himself to his

present opinion, because he precludes himself the right of changing

it.

The most formidable weapon against errors of every kind is Reason.

I have never used any other, and I trust I never shall.

THOMAS PAINE, and in full agreement with:

ALFRED P VERHOEVEN.