Definitions – Am I a Deist, Theist, or Creationist?

If mentioning to a friend that you are reading books about science and religion, he may ask if you are a Deist, a Theist of a Creationist.  Though I don’t like labels, it is sometimes helpful to know the general meaning of contended words. 

Deism is a philosophy that believes there is a God, but rejects the ideas of divine revelation and Godly intervention.  Deists believe that the existence of God can be deduced from observation of the earth and universe.  The designs of earth presuppose a Designer and the creation a Creator.  So Deism is a “natural” religion and not a "revealed" religion, such as Judaism, Christianity and Islam.  According to Deists, these religions falsely claim to have received special revelation from God.

On one hand, Deism is correct.  I believe we can conclude that God exists based on the designs and creation found in the universe.  I call this a mental testimony, as it is based on observation and logical conclusion.  On the other hand, Deism is not correct.  Deists believe that God created the earth and then, His job complete, essentially walked away.  Thus, Deists do not believe in revealed religions, prophets, or scriptures.  But revelations, prophets, and scriptures are what make up my spiritual testimony, or that which has been confirmed to me by the spirit.  Thus I am not a Deist.

Theism is defined as a belief in a god or gods.  By this very general definition, I am a Theist.  To continue our review of labels that define belief, atheism, which is the belief that there are no gods, is the opposite of theism.  Agnosticism is the acknowledgement that while a deity may exist, one can never collect the data to prove it, so we can never be conclusive.

Finally, the definition of creationist once meant someone who believed that God was the creator of the earth.  However, the definition has changed over the years.  As explained by Francis Collins in The Language of God, “Over the past century, however, the term Creationist has been hijacked (and capitalized) to apply to a very specific subset of such believers, specifically those who insist on a literal reading of Genesis 1 and 2 to describe the creation of the universe and the formation of life on earth.  The most extreme version of this view, generally referred to as Young Earth Creationism (YEC) interprets the six days of creation as literal twenty-four-hour days and concludes that the earth must be less than ten thousand years old.”  By this new definition, I am not a creationist.

Lastly we should consider Intelligent Design (ID).  One could conclude from reading the history of the term that as federal courts ruled that creationism was a religion and could not be taught as a science, many creationists simply adopted the new moniker “Intelligent Design”.  Intelligent Design allows its believers to recognize the existence of a higher intelligence behind the creation of the universe, earth, and man - without ever using the term “God”.  On one hand, Intelligent Design vigorously opposes natural selection and evolution.  On the other hand, the theory purports to be about science, so topics about the Bible, God, and theology in general are considered outside of the scope of ID.  (In this regard, Intelligent Design is actually somewhat similar to Deism.)  So, the Intelligent Design community includes opponents of evolution from a very broad range of religious faiths.  Ironically, it denies Science, but doesn’t want to discuss Religion.  So, while I agree with their single tenet that there is Intelligence behind the creation, I do not consider myself a part of this group.  You can’t really participate in the science/religion debate, if you deny one and ignore the other.