Does Deism Have Any Relevance Today?

I have to tell you all, some years back, I had a real crisis of faith. And Deism showed me, belief in God could be based on rationality too. Because I am a very rational, evidence-based person, as it were.

Anyway, I just have to ask. Does Deism have any relevance today? I know that there are one or two websites that support it. But I am talking about in the science community.

I know my high school chemistry/physics teacher was drawn to it. But he fought in World War II. I mean today.

 

Not sure what you're asking. The Enlightement faith in a divine watchmaker who set the universe in motion and let it run has gone out of style, along with faith in reason and a mechanistic view of the universe. Modern physics since general relativity and quantum mechanics is far less tidy than the Newtonian world that spawned Deism. If we think of deism as being about a god other than the hands-on personal god of the Abrahamic religions, though, there seem to be a significant and growing number of reputable scientists like Paul Davies, Bernard Haisch, and Freeman Dyson who are willing to take seriously the possibility that something like an purposeful Higher Power might be responsible for the laws of physics, the integrated complexity and "fine tuning" of the universe, without being directly involved in human affairs or interfering with natural processes. Davies, The Mind of God; Haisch, The God Theory; Dyson,Infinite in all Directions,and Disturbing the Universe. Atheist physicist Victor Stenger criticizes such views (Has Science Found God?) and sarcastically characterizes scientists like mathematical physicist Paul Davies as a "deiologian". But you are not alone. It's pretty much my own view of God. When I was dating and involved in some of those internet dating sites, I remember questions like: Do you believe in a God who answers prayer. And I would answer no. I believe in the felt presence of a Higher Power "in who we live and move and have our being", but not the "hands on" Dude in the Sky. In fact, I consider myself to be a panendeist; a combination of panentheism (not pantheism) and deism. "Panendeism is a sub-category of Deism, based on the speculation that the universe is a part of god, but not all of god and literally means "all in god".Panendeism Home
You might also check out the church of modern deism.Church of The Modern Deist

 

If it were not for religious philosophies like deism, Western christian society would have been highly similar to islamic fundamentalist societies at present.

Kemal Ataturk, the famous Turkish commander and statesman who secularized chronically failure-prone Turkey and put it on the path of progress finally with his reforms, was something of a deist himself.

“ I am not leaving a spiritual legacy of dogmas,unchangeable petrified directives. My spiritual legacy is science and reason." - Kemal Ataturk