Volokh, Eugene wrote:
The problem lies, as I stated before, with the modern definition. The key is not how a dictionary defines it today, but how deists themselves defined it in the 18th century. As I stated previously, in 18th century deism there were two keys to distinguishing between deism and theism in its various forms. First, deists rejected much or all of the claimed revelations upon which the religious were based, Christianity in particular (see Paine's Age of Reason, for instance). Second, deists believed that one could discern the truth about God based upon reason alone, hence there was no need for such revelations. That is a pretty radical difference from the Christian belief that scripture is necessary to know the truth about God. The notion of an entirely non-interventionist clockmaker God was not necessary for deism then, nor is it necessarily now. That notion comes more from Spinoza than it does from the various 18th century deists like Voltaire or Paine. So the problem here is in the definition, not the document itself."The Great God of the Bible"? "The Father, Son and Holy Ghost"? "The Jehovah"? These would have been odd things to say in even a non-Deistic document. "Divine Providence" and "Supreme Judge of the world" were, I suspect, much more normal and idiomatic ways of referring to the Christian God when discussing his role as an interventionist or judging God. And these phrases suggest that while the Declaration was meant to be an ecumenical document, it wasn't meant to be a Deistic one under the modern definition I give.
Eugene
Ed Brayton
_______________________________________________ To post, send message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/religionlaw
Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as private. Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are posted; people can read the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or wrongly) forward the messages to others.
