Religious Concepts of the Church of Nature's God
Inspired by Nature, Based on Reason. The Journey, Not the Destination.

The Church of Nature's God endorses Freethought and constructive Deism. The Church is very respectful of other belief systems; we merely disagree. The Church encourages the studying of other religions and philosophies to find wisdom and useful advice on life and living. Deists through the ages have spent much energy pointing out the faults and inconsistencies of revealed religions. So much information of this nature is already available, that no space will be devoted here to the practice of discrediting other religions. It is not necessary to tear down another religion to build up Deism. How can we possibly expect others to respect our beliefs if we have no respect for theirs?

Positive Deism, Modern Deism, Deist.info, iDeism.com, Panendeism.org and other branches of Deism, serve as sources of learning and inspiration for the Church of Nature's God. There is much valuable information about Deism at these sites. The Studies link at left will take you to sites about, not only Deism, but also Freethought sites and websites that delve into other religions and philosophies.

To most, religion implies worship. Personally, I see no reason why a Deity would need to be worshipped. I cannot imagine what need of the Creator might be fulfilled by worship. I certainly believe that the Creator is worth of respect and reverence, and there is much for us to be thankful for. Worship fulfills some need of man's, but the Creator of the Universe lacks nothing that man can supply. Of course, if you believe differently, I will defend to the death your right to think for yourself and disagree. I merely expect the same tolerance in return.

The Church has no creed, no authoritarian "thou shalts" and "thou shalt nots". As some unidentified Native American once remarked, “If you take the Christian Bible and put it out in the wind and the rain, soon the paper on which the words are printed will disintegrate, and the words will be gone. Our bible is the wind.” A Deist can relate to this way of thinking. A church offering here is not a monetary donation, it is a suggestion or recommendation offered for your consideration. The Church has no sacred texts or scriptures. Our Bible is the work of a mere person. Most people who want to know more about Deism will read Thomas Paine (Age of Reason). Links to works by Ethan Allen, Elihu Palmer and other Deists can be found at links on the Studies page. Hopefully, our new book will serve as a source of inspiration.

Since the belief system here is very open-minded, you may wonder if the Church is similar to Unitarian Universalism. Not at all. There are some important distinctions. The UU Church is a liberal church that accepts practitioners of all faiths (Christian, Eastern, Pagan, Agnostic and Atheist), and many of those faiths are embraced and practiced in the UU church. The UU church is also very much into political activism. The Church of Nature's God welcomes and encourages people from all backgrounds to examine Deism, reason-based natural religion and nature-based spirituality. While the Church does not spend time criticizing other belief systems, its general direction is incompatible with faith-based revealed religions. The Church of Nature's God is also strongly apolitical. Mixing religion and politics always leads to bad results.

My own concept of God and Deism is my own, just as your concepts are uniquely you. In the abstract, God is the ideal, our concept of perfection. God obviously exists as long as we have a notion of perfection. We strive to become better persons as we go through life. Since we know we will never attain perfection, the journey, therefore, is critically important, since we will never reach our destination. For many, it is enough to accept such an idea of God and no more.

God has no need of man’s worship. Where is there evidence of such a need found anywhere in nature? God has no needs that mere humans could fulfill. Giving thanks for all that the Creator has provided is a natural and accepted expression of spirituality, and certainly no harm can come from giving thanks. Bear in mind, however, that to worship can also mean to honor, so honoring God by being thankful is an option that shows both gratitude and reverence, so there could not possibly be anything wrong with that.

If Man chooses to worship some God or Goddess who needs worshipping, and if in so doing man feels fulfilled, then that is good. If man is comforted by the belief that worshipping a Deity in this life will lead to a better afterlife, then let man be comforted. That is a good thing. But if man uses his chosen religion to interfere in the lives of other men; if man imposes his will on other men in the name of his God, then you can be sure that it is man who is committing an act against nature, and thus against God. Man does not honor God by denying other men their freedom.

It is not reasonable to fear punishment in the afterlife for not having sufficiently worshipped a God who does not need or demand worship.
Man can show his reverence for God and can satisfy his own spiritual needs by studying nature and enjoying the awe-inspiring wonders God created.

For Classical Deists, God is the Creator of nature, the author of the universe. God’s creation operates according to the natural laws of creation. These laws are perpetually self-acting and self-sustaining, needing no further action on God’s part. Man is just a part of this creation. You can leave God out of this equation and still see that the universe operates according to natural laws.

Nature’s God is not a supernatural God. Nature’s God is a natural god. Some believe this God preceded nature and, having created nature and its perfect laws, has no reason to violate those laws. Any perceived imperfection in the laws of nature reflect, not imperfection, but our imperfect understanding of those laws.

There have been many arguments for the existence of God put forth over the centuries. No argument is perfect. All these arguments have some element that can be criticized, but what do you expect? These arguments are human constructs. Accepting any of them requires some measure of faith. Deist faith is faith based on reason, but there is an element of faith nonetheless.

Natural laws, however, are perfect, whether God exists or not. It is not reasonable to believe that God has any need to intervene or interfere in the natural order. Reason says that there are no miracles that defy the laws of nature, nor have there ever been. If we choose to look for miracles, we need to look no further than nature. The miraculous is easy to find there. Nature has everything necessary to be self-perpetuating for billions of years to come. Our power to forecast the ultimate fate of the universe predicts that entropy will eventually rule. We won't be around to see whether the prediction is true.