Rite of Deism

There is no service.

Deism has no congregation, no sabbath, no sacrament and no clergy. Paine wrote that his own mind was his own church, and it is the most accurate one-line description of what a deist does.

⏱ Ongoing — there is no service and no calendar◌ Individuals, almost always alone

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What happensThere is no prescribed rite. Some deists set aside time for thanksgiving or for attention to the natural world; nothing is asked for

What it needsNothing, and no building

What it aims atNot to petition — the theology rules out a God who changes course

Understanding it — context, not catechism: how this rite is held

Filed as a rite because the honest answer to what a deist does belongs in the Practice room, and the honest answer is: nothing prescribed. There is no liturgy, no holy day, no initiation, no funeral rite and no ordained person to perform one; deists who want a ceremony generally use a humanist celebrant. The World Union of Deists runs a website, a podcast, an online library and a journal rather than services, and its members meet, when they meet, online. Some deists describe a practice of thanksgiving or of deliberate attention to nature, but nobody claims it is required, and inventing a rite here would be a fabrication.

From the sources — the passages this rests on; concise renderings, cited

My own mind is my own church.
Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason, Part I (1794)
Written immediately after his list of the churches he does not believe in, and the nearest thing deism has to a statement about practice.

The same ground, other faiths

rites that share this one's ideas

Feeding your own head. Yoruba Religion Go deeper →

A Agni — the fire that carries. Vedic Religion · figure Meet them →

Sandhyavandana — the joints of the day. Hinduism Go deeper →

Chanting. Buddhism Go deeper →

The Namokar mantra. Jainism Go deeper →

Shabbat — the day of rest. Judaism Go deeper →

The conversation

argument stays attached to the rite it is about All discussion →

Sign in to open the first thread. Everything here is attributed.

Where next

Deism's Practice roomback up one layer Propose a change to this riteone button — it routes to the review pool