The prayers of the Enlightenment deists and the religious Enlightenment

Throughout most of the twentieth century, the Enlightenment was seen as a period when people used the light of reason and science to free themselves from the shackles of religious beliefs. For example, Henry Steele Commager said, ‘the men of the Enlightenment … are the first fully to emancipate themselves from religious superstition and to understand the nature of man in the light of science and reason’.1 Similarly, Peter Gay stated that there was a unified Enlightenment whose proponents rejected the religious beliefs they grew up with while being on a mission to develop ‘a naturalistic world view, a secular ethical system, and above all a triumphant scientific method’.2 Moreover, the deists were seen as major proponents of secularism, naturalism, and the scientific method. Gay asserted that the deists living in England had a very important role in the Enlightenment mission of developing a secular and scientific worldview because they were ‘the first men in modern times to set out on this mission … they redrew the religious map of Europe’.3 In the decades since Gay's time, his view of a unified Enlightenment has been widely challenged. This challenge was initiated by Roy Porter and Mikuláš Teich in their 1982 book, The Enlightenment in National Context. Porter and Teich, and other scholars who follow them, say that the Enlightenment took many different forms in different national contexts and that in many countries religious belief was seen as compatible with ‘the light of science and reason’. The idea that there was a singular, unified Enlightenment has been rejected by many scholars in favour of the idea that there was a ‘family of Enlightenments’, or many different Enlightenments in different countries.4 Jonathan Israel disagrees with the idea of seeing the Enlightenment as a family of Enlightenments. He agrees that there was a moderate Enlightenment whose proponents were motivated by their religious beliefs. However, he argues that there was a much more important and more secular Radical Enlightenment. Israel maintains that the proponents of the Radical Enlightenment were the progenitors of the modern world because they, unlike the proponents of the moderate Enlightenment, advocated equality, comprehensive freedom of thought, democratic politics, and personal liberty. Israel asserts that, ‘the view that there was not one Enlightenment but rather a “family of enlightenments” leads to distraction from the core issues, and even a meaningless relativism contributing to the loss of basic values needed by modern society’.5 David Sorkin adds the concept of the religious Enlightenment to Israel's concepts of the moderate and Radical Enlightenments. Sorkin says that while the Radical Enlightenment flanked one side of the moderate Enlightenment, ‘flanking the moderate Enlightenment on the other side, and significantly overlapping with it, was the religious Enlightenment’. According to Sorkin, this religious Enlightenment consisted of the many Protestants, Catholics, and Jews who were religious while ‘using the new science and philosophy to promote a tolerant, irenic understanding of belief that could serve a shared morality and politics’.6 Unlike the scholarly view of the Enlightenment, the scholarly view of deism has not significantly changed since Gay's time. The deists are still seen as believing in an inactive deity who never performed miracles or made revelations, because this deity only created the universe and then left it to run on its own. This is understandable because the most prominent deists, such as Voltaire and Thomas Paine, denied that God ever performed miracles or made revelations. Moreover, the deists who believed in miracles and revelations are generally not very well known nowadays. Some scholars realise that the deists had religious beliefs that were important to them and shaped their worldview. The most influential person advocating this view is Charles Taylor in his books about the secularisation of Western culture. Taylor is right when he discusses how the deists, by emphasising reason and morality, helped weaken many people's attachment to parts of the Christian worldview, especially the Christian emphases on grace and on Jesus Christ as God in human form. However, I will show that Taylor is mistaken in thinking that all deists believed in an inactive deity and that none of them had any religious feelings for God.7 Through research in eighteenth-century books, pamphlets, and speeches, I have found 95 deists who wrote their own prayers and included these prayers in their writings or speeches.8 Furthermore, there are likely to be more deists in archival sources or in other books and pamphlets of which I am not aware. By focusing on these prayer-writers, this article challenges the common scholarly view that none of the deists had any genuine religious feelings for God. This article focuses on the deists who wrote prayers for several reasons. First, it was illegal throughout Europe for anyone who was raised a Christian to deny Christian doctrines. Thus, irreligious writers would prudently often include perfunctory statements of orthodox belief in their writings to avoid persecution for their irreligious ideas. The deist prayers, though, did not help the writers avoid persecution because the writers used deist terms in their prayers instead of Christian terms, and expressed a deist theology instead of a Christian one. While scholars tend to dismiss any deist who claimed to believe in miracles or revelation, scholars cannot so easily dismiss the deists who wrote prayers. Another reason this article focuses on the deists who wrote prayers is that these prayers were not short, perfunctory ones. They were often very long prayers regarding extremely serious matters. Many of the prayers were said during the French Revolution when France was being attacked by the combined armies of many European nations, and there was the threat of people starving because of crop failures. During this perilous situation, many French revolutionary deists wrote long prayers that first thanked God for all the help he had already given the French revolutionaries, and then implored God to continue his care and protection of France. Other serious prayers that were written did not implore God's help, but expressed the writer's adoration of God and their desire to have a closer relationship with God. These prayers were written by many individuals for their private use but, more tellingly, a handful of deists wrote complete deist worship services that were filled with many prayers. While John Toland wrote a spoof of a full liturgy, the deist liturgies were clearly not spoofs because Ben Franklin and David Williams's liturgy was used in a deist worship service for four years in London, and Jean-Baptiste Chemin-Dupontès's liturgy was used in the theophilanthropy worship services for six years in France.9 (The word ‘theophilanthropy’ comes from combining the Greek words for ‘love of God and people’.) A third reason the writers of prayers are highlighted is that these prayers very strikingly reveal how deeply the prayer-writers loved God and wanted to have a closer relationship with him. Thus, these prayers reveal that the prayer-writers had a much different relationship with God than stereotypical deists had. Because this article is focused on the deists, it evades the complicated question of the nature of the Enlightenment. However, many deists who wrote prayers were writing in the 1790s during the French Revolution. Many of the prayers of these French revolutionary deists were recited or sung during government-sponsored religious festivals. These non-Christian religious festivals were a singular and striking aspect of the French Revolution, and they have been studied by scholars. Until recently, the religious language in these religious festivals has usually been dismissed by scholars, such as Mona Ozouf and François-Alphonse Aulard, as not about worshipping God but about transferring the sacredness usually associated with God to the newly-founded French Republic.10 However, in the last couple years, Mathias Sonnleithner and I have separately published articles arguing that there are many good reasons to think that these prayers were not about the nation but about worshipping God.11 While much of Gay's vision of the Enlightenment has been questioned, many scholars still see the French experience of the Enlightenment as being a continuous march to atheism and secularisation. The deists’ prayers and the large numbers of people participating in these ceremonies draw into question whether scholars should continue to see the French Enlightenment as this continuous march to secularisation. Before the numerous deists who wrote prayers can be discussed, there is an important preliminary issue that must be addressed. This issue is that many scholars find the very concept of deism to be so problematic that they doubt the term is even meaningful. When Gay discussed deism in the 1960s, he just assumed that in the Enlightenment there was a significant group of deists who advocated deism. However, since his time, scholars who specialise in studying deism have come to question the very concept of deism, and some deny that there was such a thing as deism. Robert E. Sullivan discusses how, when people in the Enlightenment used the term ‘deist’, there was a ‘lack of both an agreed concept of deism and intelligible criteria by which to judge an individual's acceptance of it’.12 In a similar way, James A. Herrick starts his discussion of the English deists by stating, ‘the actual religious convictions of the Deists are so varied and complex as to raise questions about the descriptive usefulness of the term Deist’.13 Wayne Hudson, Diego Lucci, and Jeffrey R. Wigelsworth out that the terms and in this because both terms a and were used by different people to different David has an for the term had such in the Enlightenment. He says that people of the used the word to for orthodox Christian beliefs. people as they are not in much more than they judge the to be in beliefs which the to be to religious These scholars are right that to understand deism by how the in the about deism, the word has and was used in different However, the writing about deism were not scholars to be all these writers were Christian who deism and it as a threat to These Christian to be deists, even these were very different from other people who were Furthermore, many Christian would more Christian as deists because the believed the were orthodox and people to deism. long as the books and pamphlets written by the word will be a a However, there is eighteenth-century for understanding deism. This is the writings and of people who that they were deists, asserted that they advocated deism, or their religious beliefs with deism. was it was illegal throughout Europe to or deny significant Christian and who this were often was seen as and up the 1790s and the French Revolution, the only people of who would say that they were deists or in any their religious beliefs with deism were Through I have found who that they were deists, asserted that they advocated deism, or their religious beliefs with deism. A couple of are a and James an English discussed some that God as and and then of wrote an his religious The Deists These deists were writing from the to the and from many different Some of them were deeply in the of the century, while were writing during the of the Revolution. their these deists the thing when they themselves deists, and they shared a basic set of religious beliefs. they believed that there was an and God who person in a good and Unlike their Christian these deists did not that the to worship God was by or believing doctrines. these deists asserted that the to worship God was to with a and and and to These deists that their beliefs about God and how to worship from their such as their their and their During this the that people about their they were about a was or the of These deists deism with believing that the in had more than The English Peter or the of nature has even by that would set up above it, which is to This of deism as more than with the many scholars have deism. For the first to a of English deism, is an of by free to the and of all However, because this was given by the deists it has more than any scholarly of deism. Furthermore, this the deists from the the and the who I in that only the deists the in while these often more to the than to the of This can most clearly be seen in the deists’ different than the to the of God as a and deity who for the of their and who and with and other The deists did not that a good and God would these the other the eighteenth-century and and not only that God had these but they reasons God was in While the deists agreed about a set of basic religious they had about some doctrines. The that the the deists were than the the who was both a and a said, who believe that the of nature is the only there are of in their but these are much than which are in of the The deists who wrote prayers shared the religious beliefs of the other deists, but the prayer-writers especially to God. was their and that these deists to prayers. The writers of prayers God as a and not a and deity with people had The prayer-writers were very to and that God people so that people had a to and serve God by his The deists who wrote prayers did not to an religious group that performed group and believed common and so these deists were not religious in the that their of a more modern concept of being a concept that a and relationship with these deists were I will that these prayers show that the deists who wrote them were These deists and their religious beliefs by concept of the religious Enlightenment has been by to include many eighteenth-century Moreover, Jeffrey many in a of the religious Enlightenment that he the Similarly, the deists who wrote prayers should be seen as of the religious Enlightenment. The most important of understanding the of the deists who wrote prayers is that they God as a being who was with their Furthermore, they often Peter wrote a that of and of the be with the of which will to in this with that and of as is to God for help to his in and his God to help be free of and to be to all the by to all and for ever and a major French and shared view of God as a wrote prayers that were to be said and The the will use the that has given it not just to but especially to protection and to the of from which to to them and to be from all good come and who them with a to the the and the the of a for the of men and all of them the that is for one to the follow and the themselves experience God who is of the of … the of to that it was who in the of who their … when have a which who is to doubt that the new of that the is Many other deists who wrote prayers believed that God performed In of these deists that God performed miracles to help with the large of them that God performed miracles in their own to help people who were Moreover, of the prayer-writers who did not that they believed in miracles implored God to a that they that God performed only four of these deists denied that God performed Furthermore, the four deists who denied that God performed miracles God as a who for For example, denied miracles but asserted that all the of nature are of God's from and from Moreover, said that God was and who … Because the deists who wrote prayers that God did such for these deists that people had him. These included and worshipping him. Thomas an English are as to and worship to have and the for to the of and and with a of Another to God was his that because God people with most … to as as human can and and and all to his in his and as as nature is The deists’ prayers often that these deists not only wanted to follow God's will but had religious feelings of and for God. For example, in one of his writings the French included a that he said and This the grace to and in the in which … of a which the that I have from and which I from The last of the of have on who only who only for who from the of his and who in his only The deists so were often even to scholars studying the some deists, and Ben wrote their own prayers that how much they had a for God and wanted their to to God's wrote many prayers, and in one of them he said that his desire was to follow God's of and and good In in the desire of is that will be By will with I I in and I believe already a of the which is its Franklin wrote many prayers in in the because he with the David to a deist and Franklin on to the deist worship service and had for the service they wrote God is of the of his own to the of … and worship a being … in all and and have their The deists who wrote prayers were religious because they had a relationship with a deity that they as a and While many deists to God for a significant of the deists as a of to develop a and closer relationship with God. For example, Peter people to because he that up a on in the of the and so be a to help to the to and to God's Thomas a because it a and for God. and of God as a is I said, I to be the or of Some of these deists so to God that they be as had For who often and even his by a to the wrote that people should not set times for can be with God a is with his I think God is to I and … In I think about God and with is the with Jean-Baptiste he had a of In one of his prayers, he first several the and in and then the of He is He is in the on the and in the I and I because are I with and is in that find in the only of all While to God in Thomas and John of being one with God and of his nature while and being in a the most these He believed that people who a rather than a could experience a during which they were a of the by from By from that, of light the by the as he all all in the and such of to the as are to a of that this experience of the By the of the come to not but of the that people not only could of the nature but could a of God in their stated that there was a of God in the as much as the of did in the The and and of God are in the of the they his and are the of Christ to the written not with but with the of the and discussed much more how people could have a very relationship with God. asserted that people who the and of a could experience a of or into the and of the asserted that people should to the nature by with God. In one and of … to the by an with and a to from to deist who people could very to Peter had a of understanding the and He said that he was in believing that people had of a one and a one. stated that the understanding the and that that about to the person of According to the understanding that to the light all that people who the understanding their reason to have their up by God's said this reason up by God's was the not the person said of this is of and as this is only light from the only of the God or God human nature then said that people who their understanding and more could so to God that they be filled with and the of the will and The deists who had were the most religious of all the deists who wrote prayers. all the deist prayer-writers believed in a and God who for These deists had a to and worship God as well as follow his will by being to other These deists’ prayers were a of their to and for God. one of the said about he and is an of which to to of worship to all that The deists who wrote prayers were religious and should be seen as of the religious Enlightenment. The deists who wrote prayers have a major on view of the Enlightenment this there is group of deists who should be the deists who wrote to the prayer-writers, I found the writers of to God research in eighteenth-century books, pamphlets, and I wrote about the prayer-writers first because the did not have as a and for God as the The did not see their as a and did not about one with God or God's very However, the were much more religious than other deists, and the shared the view of God as a who performed is and of the universe all is raise in the The its for in the of the which especially the He to the of and He them to He them with In the the most numerous all the nations, The has with one all in God's the French The writers of about God believed that God their adoration and worship because of all the that God did for These deists expressed their for God in their to the prayer-writers, the should be seen as a of the religious Enlightenment. The of this article will the that the deists who wrote prayers or to God have on view of Enlightenment deism in were 95 deists who wrote prayers and deists who wrote to God. A of the wrote prayers, but when this is there was a of one deists who wrote prayers or to God. The idea that these one deists about the nature of Enlightenment deism could easily be dismissed scholars had deists and only of them had written prayers or the and could be dismissed as especially deists who or about the of the the other scholars only about deists, then the who wrote prayers or that all the Enlightenment deists were of the religious Enlightenment. is a major with out of the deists wrote prayers or to because scholars in have not made any to and the scholars have made statements about Enlightenment deism how many deists there This has scholars to different of the of one is who maintains that during the Enlightenment period there were only about to deists in argues that eighteenth-century created the idea that there were many more deists to for the other is R. who the of deist writers as I have a to Enlightenment who should be deists and an of on the of deism given research I have a This that a of all the Enlightenment deists so much about God and God that they wrote prayers or to him. The deists who wrote prayers or are a significant of the of deists to view of the Enlightenment have not known about the large of deists who wrote prayers and about or how these deists These writers believed in an and personal not a and inactive The scholarly view of Enlightenment deism should to this and that it is to Enlightenment deism as a belief in an inactive and God who had relationship with This adds to the of research that most people in the Enlightenment believed that Enlightenment values and religious belief were The scholarly view of the Enlightenment has changed significantly in the last several decades such that it is as a period in which was seen as with and have that some religious many Protestants, and Catholics, combined their religious beliefs with Enlightenment These are seen as being of the religious Enlightenment. This article argues that the scholarly view of deism should this by focusing on one group of deists, the 95 deists who wrote prayers. These deists did not see God as or these deists God as a who often helped These deists had a very relationship with a and God that they and on they They believed that God people so well that people had a to and follow his Some of these deists so to God that they could be said to have had as scholars include other such as the as of the religious Enlightenment, so should scholars include the deists who wrote prayers as of the religious Enlightenment. was group of deists who were very much the deists who wrote deists who wrote about God. these of deists were a significant of the deists that the Enlightenment deists should not be seen as people who believed in a and inactive God who had relationship with scholars should see that a significant of deists were religious and should be included in the religious Enlightenment.