Conclusion to Deism, And a Far Bigger Question

Good point.

I think the idea of God being some sort of cosmic force or essence is rooted in the fact that people have important questions for which they feel science fails to give satisfactory answers, at least at the moment -- questions about purpose, meaning, how the universe started, etc. As I see it, those who feel compelled to answer these kinds of questions have two options. They can either say things like purpose and meaning exist only in our minds, which is your position as I understand it. The only other option, in my opinion, is to attribute them to some supernatural being, a creator. As you point out, people as brilliant as Einstein apparently believed these were important questions that science didn't answer.

I agree with you as far as deism being a sort of a "half-way house" between Christianity and atheism. A Christian who rejects the notion that Jesus was the Son of God is effectively dismissing the claims of the Gospels and would, I suspect, soon come to view the entire Bible as wholly unreliable. They might still have nagging questions, however, about how the universe started, the meaning of life, etc., at which point I think deism would begin to look like a reasonable position.

Okay, let's move on. What is your "far bigger question?"