Deism was an uncommon belief in the 1700’s. Deism is the religious belief that the course of nature demonstrates the existence of God, and that all formal organized religion is superfluous and not needed. Three of the most famous men of the 1700’s, Thomas Paine, Ben Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson show some deistic beliefs, however, there is a great amount of variation in their views, and they disagree about whether their views should be made public.
Thomas Paine had extreme deistic beliefs in relation to Franklin and Jefferson. He believed in one God and no more, in some sort of an afterlife, equality for men, and that religious duty consists of doing justice, loving mercy, and making others happy. Paine believed that, “All national
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