PHILOSOPHICAL DICTIONARY – Deism

Deism. Viewed etymologically, this word would be regarded as synonymous with theism, being formed from the Latin, as that is from the Greek.

We use the terms, however, in different senses. By theism we mean the acknowledgment of a God without implying the absence of any further faith; by deism the admission of a God, but rejection of any revelation further than may be afforded by the light of Nature. Deism was the form generally taken by infidelity in the last century, and it is against deism that the arguments of Butler’s Analogy are directed.