Definition of "deism" [de•ism]

• The belief, based solely on reason, in a God who created the universe and then abandoned it, assuming no control over life, exerting no influence on natural phenomena, and giving no supernatural revelation. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The term deism, however, has come in the course of time to have a more specific meaning."
• "Most people have probably never heard of the term deism, or, if they had, would fail to distinguish it from theism."
• "They are wicked: but they are not deists; for the term deism surely stands for admitting tlie religion of nature, as well as for the renouncing of revela - tion."