Roger Olson writes,___
Deism of some type is alive and well in America-- both on an intellectual level and on a popular "folk religion" level. Sociologists of American religion have invented a term for the prevailing theology of church youth in America: "moralistic therapeutic deism." I personally know of professors at Christian universities who say they are deists and others who are but don’t say it.
I agree with deists that religion should not be irrational, but we will disagree about what constitutes "irrational" belief. But I disagree with deism that religion should not go beyond reason. A religion that doesn't go beyond reason has no place for love or sin or care for the weak or hope for an ultimate triumph of good over evil. And its god would seem to me to be bad insofar as he is omnipotent but never intervenes in history or persons' lives.
Take away the incarnation of God in Jesus and Jesus' resurrection and I would stop being a Christian. I might be a deist instead. But I would not love God; I would only fear him.
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Olson's complete post, "Why I Am Not a Deist (No Offense to Deists)," can be read here.
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