Deism is an old and dead view of God that originated during the 1700's. It was derived from Christianity, but is much more of a heretical/skeptical view. It was an agnostic view that said yes there was a God , in referrence to the Christian God, but that he did nothing in the world. Famouse followers of this belief include Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. Other sources say John Locke was a deist, but if you look at his doctrines and writings you will find that is was quite the opposite. In conclusion deism is derived from Christianity, but it is dead and is not Biblical.
Answer
Deism is the belief in a "secular" God, what Thomas Jefferson called "Nature's God". This God was generally perceived as being a creator but not a sustainer (by critics, often called referred to as the "absentee landlord"), the basic idea being that while God (whatever god) may have created the natural laws (everything from physics to ethics) and then left the world/universe to sort itself out. It definitely has many agnostic overtones, but was not agnosticism per-say.
It actually comes stems from the Renaissance and may have been the result of a growing trend of scepticsm, agnosticism and atheism as the arts and sciences began to flourish, but in a time where the Church was in controll of everything. You couldn't state out-right that you didn't believe in the Christian God, or believe in the Church's doctrines, so they used deism as a sort of loophole to stave off some of the attacks.
Deism is certainly not biblical, however, there are still many deists, and in its close ties to agnosticism, a lot of fluctuation by its "followers"
Deism is not dead!
There are plenty of deists left and there numbers are growing faster than any other religion.
18th Century Deism stressed morality and rejected the orthodox Christian view of the divinity of Christ
Deism does not believe in a GOD specifically, merely a higher power. Puritanism focuses on the Christian version of a higher power.
As Deism rejects the idea of Divine Revelation, there is necessarily no Holy Book for Deists. Historically, most Deists were former Christians and therefore held the Christian Bible in some reverencer, but this was short-lived and Deists often made jibes at it.
A belief that nature is evidence of a creator is Deism.
Moralistic therapeutic deism was created in 2005.
The word "deism" has its roots in the word "god". Deism refers to the belief that based on observation, the natural world has "reason" and this is sufficient to justify the existence of God. In short, deism refers to the belief that there is God.
Deism has no holy book as that would require divine revelation.
The word is originally from the Latin word deus. This is the word for god in Latin. Deists are people who believe there is a higher power, but it is not necessarily the Christian god.
The ideology that is Deism has not yet ended.To this day there are still many people who identify as Deists.
Most of the people on this site might not understand that Deism is still a very active and thriving ideology.This can be corrected by people that are aware of the aforementioned fact and by answering questions or revising inaccurate answers relating to deism on this site.
Various authorities have called Barton a “Deist-Unitarian.” However, her actual beliefs varied throughout her life along a spectrum between freethought and deism.
Tupac was raised as a Baptist but explored a variety of spiritual beliefs throughout his life. He also studied teachings from the Nation of Islam and had spiritual connections to the teachings of Buddhism and other faiths. Ultimately, his spiritual beliefs evolved and were not confined to one specific religion.