Deist Prayer?

[xkatz]

What would a deistic prayer look like?

 

[The Sum of Awe]

There isn't one, AFAIK

 

[tumbleweed41]

Very few, if any, Deists pray.

 

[Shuddhasattva]

I think I saw a deist prayer on a bumpersticker...

"God, save me from your followers."

 

[Breathe]

Very few, if any, Deists pray.

What are the general views of prayer in the Deistic community?
If someone said, "I'm a Deist and I pray", what would your immediate thought/s be?

 

[AwesomeNobita]

I pray not to ask for something but instead to give thanks for something. I don't dictate to God. Individual Deists have their own opinion when it comes to prayer. Well, that's because we are individuals and there's no governing body in Deism instead, maybe, if some Deists establish a Deistic religion based on Deistic beliefs but I'm pretty sure that not all Deists will conform to this. I myself won't. Hahaha.

 

[Birbal]

I consider myself a deist- I do not accept any sacred scripture, I accept one man as a prophet of God, but not because some alleged authority of his words, or the miracles he done, because there exists neither, but because I think he was the promulgator of what is true and good, and he himself has established his religious community like that, like a deist community. The person in question is Akbar.

As far the topic is concerned, I pray five times in the manner of Islamic salah, except I have a different shahada in which I do not mention Mohammad, but Akbar, and I turn not to Mecca, but towards the tomb of Akbar. I do not in this prayer ask anything from God, I just praise God, and use these prayers as a mechanism to rebember the divine- God and virtues- throughout the day, and to fix my mind on the divine, and I find it a great tool to keep my discipline.

 

[overcome2002]

I occasionally get the urge to pray, either at night or before a meal. The desire comes up because I want to show appreciation for what I have, like it just feels natural to say "thank you". I never actually go threw with it though, because I don't believe any one's listening. It's like I get the urge to pray but then I figure "What's the point?"

 

[KriyaUK]

Any Deist who wishes to prayer, could take a look at UU (Unitarian Universalist) prayers as these tend to offer good inspiration for anyone wanting to offer prayer to God, but without a framework or dogma or sectarianism.

Here is a UU Prayer that I know of:-

God in everything,
We have faith that we are not yet to know the answers,
But that we have reason and hope,
That we have the knowledge of what is good, in our hearts,
Hope is my only dogma,
May the people of the Earth be blessed.

....of course this will not fit with every Deist; by the very nature and dogma-free aspect of Deism.

 

[Jaskaran Singh]

I consider myself a deist- I do not accept any sacred scripture, I accept one man as a prophet of God, but not because some alleged authority of his words, or the miracles he done, because there exists neither, but because I think he was the promulgator of what is true and good, and he himself has established his religious community like that, like a deist community. The person in question is Akbar.

As far the topic is concerned, I pray five times in the manner of Islamic salah, except I have a different shahada in which I do not mention Mohammad, but Akbar, and I turn not to Mecca, but towards the tomb of Akbar. I do not in this prayer ask anything from God, I just praise God, and use these prayers as a mechanism to rebember the divine- God and virtues- throughout the day, and to fix my mind on the divine, and I find it a great tool to keep my discipline.

So is this revival of dIn i-ilahi you're doing a new attempt at making a parody, Pastafarianism/FSM-like, religion or no? If not, then I'm sorry to break it to you, but Akbar created the religion because he wanted to marry some of his 5000 sex-slaves which he brought to his harem in Dilli (they came from places as far as Russia and Abyssinia). 300 of his slaves were made wives and since the Qur'an limits the amount of wives a person could have to four, he was forced to change religions. He tried to use the Shi'a mutta method at first, but both the Shi'a-s and Sunni-s agreed that it didn't extend to 300 wives, so he changed religions. What's ironic is that some Muslims want to use Akbar as an example of Islamic religious tolerance when in actuality, dIn i-ilahi would classify as kuffar from a Muslim perspective. Also, Akbar was a murderer who ordered the murder of 30,000 Hindu peasants in single day (in order for him to become a Ghazi) and hence he couldn't classify as tolerant anyway.

 

[Sha'irullah]

Here is a popular prayer by Voltaire..
“God of all the globes and stars, the one prayer that it is meet to offer to you is submission. How can we ask anything of him who arranged and enchained all things from the beginning? Yet if it is permitted to expose our needs to a father, preserve in our hearts this feeling of submission and a pure religion. Keep from us all superstition.”

The Deist's prayer is a prayer of absolute humility, reverence, submission and strength because the Deist god is more of a divine ruler he oversees the creation as a fit. A fair deity this is as nobody is judged nor condemned in accordance to the Deistic viewpoint of god.
Truly the only thing a Deist can do is worship god but not pray although Deists like Herbert would beg to differ the modern standpoint of Deism now disregards miracles and communion with god. God is singular and unobtainable so as Deists we realize that god could not even provide a message to us as we could not understand it.

It is not fatalism but realization of how life is and what we are capable of. The Deist's prayer is truly the most noble of prayers

 

[Sha'irullah]

There isn't one, AFAIK

Oh but there are many

 

[tatygirl90]

Well I do pray but really it's more of a balm to myself. Like I pray to tell myself that everything will be okay. I do nightly prayers but that is more like ritual I do to make myself calmer. I don't do anything pre-written.

 

[Draupadi]

I don't pray to God. But I don't think there is anything wrong if you do, whatever the form is.

 

[Deidre]

So happy I found this thread. I was thinking this earlier, are there 'formal' prayers? I had been exploring Islam, and frankly, like salat, but Deism is where I'm feeling most comfortable without reservations. I had reservations with Islam.

@Draupadi - may I ask, who you pray to if not a god?

Just realized this thread's a bit older, but hopefully some will still provide some feedback.