Benjamin Franklin, American founder and Deist

The humanism of Erasmus, which prized simplicity and ethics, foreshadowed an Enlightenment attitude toward religion. The Era of Reform ignited conflicts, such as the Thirty Years' War, which made people desire that religion promote peace. Meanwhile the rise of natural science, with its emphasis on rational systems, suggested that religion also was a system. Deists saw Christianity as a religious system originally based on the moral teachings of Jesus but now so encrusted with superstition, doctrine, and hierarchy that it had ceased to function. Doctrines, sacraments, hierarchy, and miracle were stripped away. Remaining were the basic beliefs of Deism: 1) God exists and should be worshipped; 2) service to humanity is the best form of worship; 3) there is an afterlife in which good will be rewarded and evil will be punished. John Locke boiled it down even further: believe in Jesus and lead a moral life. Among the mediating positions between Deism and traditional Christianity is Unitarianism as articulated by William Ellery Channing. Benjamin Franklin was perhaps the best-known American Deist.