Editing Deism (section)

===Decline of Enlightenment Deism===
Peter Gay describes Enlightenment Deism as entering slow decline as a recognizable movement in the 1730s.<ref>{{cite book
    |last=Gay
    |title=(see above)
}}
“After the writings of Woolston and Tindal, English deism went into slow decline. ... By the 1730s, nearly all the arguments in behalf of Deism ... had been offered and refined; the intellectual caliber of leading Deists was none too impressive; and the opponents of deism finally mustered some formidable spokesmen. The Deists of these decades, Peter Annet (1693–1769), Thomas Chubb (1679–1747), and Thomas Morgan (?–1743), are of significance to the specialist alone. ... It had all been said before, and better. .”  (p.140)
</ref> A number of reasons have been suggested for this decline, including:<ref name=EoP-Mossner>
{{cite encyclopedia
 |title=Deism |first=Ernest Campbell |last=Mossner |author-link=Ernest Campbell Mossner |publisher=Collier-MacMillan |year=1967
 |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopedia of Philosophy]] |volume=2 |pages=326–336}}
</ref> 
* The increasing influence of [[metaphysical naturalism|naturalism]] and [[materialism]].
* The writings of [[David Hume]] and [[Immanuel Kant]] raising questions about the ability of reason to address metaphysical questions.
* The violence of the French Revolution.
* Christian revivalist movements, such as [[Pietism]] and [[Methodism]] (which emphasized a personal relationship with God), along with the rise of anti-rationalist and counter-Enlightenment philosophies such as that of [[Johann Georg Hamann]].<ref name=EoP-Mossner />

Although Deism has declined in popularity over time, scholars believe that these ideas still have a lingering influence on [[modern society]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Van den Berg |first=Jan |date=October 2019 |title=The Development of Modern Deism |journal=Zeitschrift für Religions- und Geistesgeschichte: Journal of Religious and Cultural Studies |location=[[Leiden]] and [[Boston]] |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |volume=71 |issue=4 |pages=335–356 |doi=10.1163/15700739-07104002 |s2cid=211652706 |eissn=1570-0739 |issn=0044-3441}}</ref> One of the major activities of the Deists, [[biblical criticism]], evolved into its own highly technical discipline. Deist rejection of revealed religion evolved into, and contributed to, 19th-century [[Liberal Christianity#Liberal Protestantism|liberal British theology]] and the rise of [[Unitarianism]].<ref name=EoP-Mossner />