Page "Deism" Paragraph 24

Individual deists varied in the set of critical and constructive elements for which they argued.

Some deists rejected miracles and prophecies but still considered themselves Christians because they believed in what they felt to be the pure, original form of Christianitythat is, Christianity as it existed before it was corrupted by additions of such superstitions as miracles, prophecies, and the doctrine of the Trinity.

Some deists rejected the claim of Jesus ' divinity but continued to hold him in high regard as a moral teacher ( see, for example, Thomas Jefferson's famous Jefferson Bible and Matthew Tindal's Christianity as Old as the Creation ).

Other, more radical deists rejected Christianity altogether and expressed hostility toward Christianity, which they regarded as pure superstition.

In return, Christian writers often charged radical deists with atheism.