49%
Confidence
Belief overview
God distinct from the world, without necessary pantheism
The creator is generally treated as distinct from creation.
1
Supportive
0
Contrary
1
Neutral
What it is: Deism normally understands God as distinct from the world and its cause, without necessarily identifying creator and universe.
How the position understands it: Although it avoids many confessional details, it tends to preserve difference between created order and creative principle.
Basis and context: This helps separate deism from pantheism, materialism, and some forms of strict naturalism.
Debates and variations: In certain boundary authors, there are approximations to minimal philosophical theism or very abstract conceptions of divinity.
Documentary evidence
Supportive
John Toland, Christianity Not Mysterious
A critique of religious mysteries incomprehensible to reason.
Reference: John Toland, Christianity Not Mysterious.
Content: Toland maintains that religion should not require the acceptance of doctrines contrary to human reason.
Use in debate: It is a key text for criticism of non-rational dogmas and for the valorization of rational clarity.
Neutral
Acts 17:24-28
A passage about the creator and the human search for God.
Reference: Acts 17:24-28.
Content: Paul speaks of God as creator and of the human search for him in language with philosophical resonance.
Use in debate: It can serve as a partial point of approximation between biblical theism and natural religion.