The Relationship between deism & science

Deism is a religious and philosopical movement that was common among European and American intellectuals during the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, it extolled the virtues of a natural religion and condemned revealed religion - especially Christianity - for its alleged prochialism and irrationality. Influenced by the works of Herbert of Cherbury and by John Locke's "Reasonableness of Christianity", deist thinkers attempted to establish religious belief based on reason alone. Deists believed that God acts through the laws of nature and to study nature is to study God. They believed that the universe was governed by mathematically perfect natural laws, that it was created by a rational God who do not intervene in its present functioning, either by way of revelation or miracle, that true religion was a "natural religion", accessible to all thougth the rational intellect and empirical study of nature. This religious and philosophical movement now known as "Deism" was influenced by Newtonian ideas. According to deists, the universe was seen as a self-governing mechanism which does not require God's involvement Thus, this scientific arguments played an indispensable role in the formulation of deism, but later deism also led to the development of science. On the other hand, deism had somewhat different national cultural situations. Today, deism has strongly contributed to growth of the spirit of tolaration towards other views, yet it has lost its previous vitality. Vll