I suppose that most folks on the blog know that deism became a big thing in the 1700s, largely due to Newton’s theories that explained motion, including that of the planets. Halley’s prediction based on Newton’s laws that the great comet would return in 1758, followed by confirmation was, well I don’t know how to describe it. Nothing in current science has had such impact. I grew up in an Evangelical denomination, then was trained in physics. I used to think of the laws of physics as “God in action”, which I suppose was some mish-mash of conservative Christianity, deism, pantheism. You name it. From where I stand now, the world doesn’t need God to keep it going. The vastness of the cosmos is well beyond the ability of any being I can think of to comprehend, let alone control. Just dive into it: the number of atoms, quarks, galaxies, … And yet there is this sense of awe, this desire to bow down before someone, something. “What is man that you are mindful of him …”