According to a survey done by the National Survey of Religious Identification (NSRI) Deism or at least just simple belief in a Deity had the largest growth between 1990 and 2001 of any of the religions. It was an astounding 717%. (See Below)

   Although books about Deism have been published in the last twenty years or so, the modern Deist movement should probably give credit to the internet for its revival. The World Union of Deists came on line in 1996. Then in 1998 the Yahoo Deism Group was started. Other forums soon followed.  In April of 2001, under the domain name of "deus.org." some people tried to start forming the United Deist Church (UDC). Then in August of 2003, the domain name owner, decided to go in a different direction from what the charter board members wanted. So the President of the Charter Board, after he was banned from the forum at “deus.org.” bought the domain name “uniteddeistchurch.org.” so that the charter board could remain in charge of the UDC.  

   It was with the use of the internet and its forums that Deists began to realize that they were not alone in their beliefs. More Deists information sites started being put on the internet as well. 

   Although the beliefs of most of today’s Deists differ from the classical Deists and the common dictionaries definitions, Deism is once again becoming known to the public. On the web-sites and Deists’ forums, Deism is being revived and renewed with new ideas being discussed. As science advances, so do the concepts of the Deists.

   One of the biggest changes occurring is that Deists are beginning to learn that their concept of Deism is not often accepted by many other Deists. Deists have to be more adaptable and tolerant for Deists to discuss their ideas with each other. As there is no authority on Deism, as each Deist strives to develop their own concepts about God, it is only natural that there are different ideas in the Deist communities. Recognizing this some Deists have tried to work for better cooperation and the building of tolerance amongst Deists. 

   This helped lead to the Deist Alliance starting in the spring and summer of 2004. The Deist Alliance is made up of individual web-site and forum administrators that decided it would be best to work together. Since all of them had the same goal of spreading Deism and Deistic, they decided that working together as a group was best. The Deist Alliance group share ideas and resources. They also work together to avoid having web-sites that are just the same as others’ web-sites. This frees the individual members to concentrate on a particular aspect of Deism. This way the readers of the Deist Alliance’s web-ring, something different and unique to read as they go through each of the member’s sites and avoiding duplicity as they do so. 

   Not all Deist forums or sites are included in the Deist Alliance though. Some don’t want to be a part of it, and some the Deist Alliance don’t want them as a member for various reasons. One reason being that some web-site and forum administrators are not willing or able to participate as much as the Deist Alliance requires. 

   As I write this, Deists have some independent    web-sites and various forums to find information and be part of an internet community. I also know of some attempts to organize Deist communities into groups in local areas. Still, many Deists will become part of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) or the American Unitarian Conference (AUC). Much as the Deists did in 1800’s. 

   There are still attempts by some Deists to form their own independent groups. As they don’t feel comfortable with some of the politics of the UUA and the AUC is still very small. They may also not agree with all of the tenets of either group. 

   One thing that was learned from the AUC, is that politics should be kept out of a religious organization. This is something that many Deists recognize and are trying to ensure that Deists groups don’t become just another political action group. But there is still splintering along political lines for many Deists forums and web-sites. 

   The future growth of Deism seems insured by the work that many are doing to let people know about Deism. As Deists don’t generally evangelize, but just let people know that their own current beliefs maybe Deistic, I do not expect exponential growth in the Deist movements of the future. But, I do expect Deism to continue to grow as people come to realize that they do not have to find a religion that they can tolerate, but can become involved with the Deist movement and keep the ideas that they already have.


Barry A. Kosmin, Seymour P. Lachman and  associates at the Graduate School of the City University of New York, National Survey of Religious Identification (NSRI). See the report at:
http://www.hollywoodjesus.com/downloads/religion
_in_america.pdf#search='National%20Survey%20of
%20Religious%20Identification'

Some of the data is on “adherents.com” at:
http://www.adherents.com/rel_USA.html