Readers Reply

Faint Praise

I don’t particularly like BR. But the contributors can apparently read, write and count to ten without taking their shoes off, and most seem to have a better than average knowledge of Hebrew, Greek and Latin. All of which is more than I can say for the fundamentalist fanatics and cultists that keep sending you derogatory letters.

You’ll be receiving my renewal notice forthwith.

Monuments

Ode to Deism

In “Mad to See the Monuments,” BR 17:06, Steven Holloway reports that the number of Deists in England in the mid- to late 1700s was “few, and their ideas did not penetrate deeply into the social milieu.” I think it is important to note that the American colonies were part of England at that time (albeit across the Atlantic). Deism was alive and well here! Indeed, Thomas Paine, who wrote Common Sense (so influential in encouraging the public to support revolution), was an avowed Deist, as were Thomas Jefferson and the majority of members of the Continental Congresses.

The Declaration of Independence refers to the Laws of Nature and Nature’s God—both Deist ideas. The preamble to the Constitution states that it is “We the people” (and not God) who establish our form of government—another Deist belief.