The Reverend Oscar "Biff" Downey, Doctor of Divinity (D.D.; Ph.D.)

From 1957 to 1961, I attended a Presbyterian pre-ministerial college, Maryville College , Maryville , Tennessee , with the eventual purpose of becoming an ordained Presbyterian minister. My major was Psychology and Religion. While there and before graduating and entering a Presbyterian Seminary, I realized that many of my religious beliefs had evolved away from the teachings of the Presbyterian Church, so I left “organized religion”. 

In the following years, I found a religion called Deism. Deism was the religion of the first four Presidents of the United States (George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison), and the religion of numerous other founding fathers, statesmen (Ethan Allen, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine) and scientists throughout America ’s history. The principles of Deism had a profound effect on the political and religious structures of the United States and played a major role in creating the foundation of the separation of church and state in America .

The philosophies of Deism, at the basic, are very simple:

• There is but one God.

• Each person can communicate to that God directly.

• Followers should always apply the “Golden Rule”.

• The understanding of God is through logic, reason and the sciences.

• God speaks to us through the laws of nature.

Deists are not evangelists. There are no “brick and mortar” churches or organized congregations. Deists prefer to pray and worship God in private. Deism is actually more of a philosophy than a religion.

In early 2004, I was diagnosed with prostate cancer and was given less than two years to live (radiation treatments have now put that cancer into remission). Following that original diagnosis however, I decided to complete the religious path I began in 1957 and I became a self-professed Deist minister; that being the only available method to become one. The limited duties of a Deist minister include officiating at marriage and funeral ceremonies and to inform others about the existence, concepts, and ideas of Deism.

To perform a marriage ceremony in Virginia you need to be a registered official who has authorization from the courts to do so. To obtain that authorization, the court requires that you have a physical church, a congregation, and that you have a letter of good standing from your church. None of these, as a Deist minister, will I ever be able to have.

With due consideration of my circumstances, Judge T. J. Markow, Circuit Court of the City of Richmond, Virginia on March 16, 2005 wrote a response to my request to be authorized to perform marriages in the State of Virginia by issuing a statement of exception, after consultation with other judges, allowing me marriage authority on a case by case basis. Currently, I am the only Deist in Virginia who has been granted this rare exception from the courts.

If you want to know more about Deism, check out the links below.

Thomas Paine's Age of Reason

The Age of Reason by Thomas Paine is what most Deists refer to as their "Bible"

Ethan Allen's Reason: The Only Oracle Of Man

A Compendious System Of Natural Religion

Modern Deism: A Primer

Thomas Jefferson's Bible

Thomas Jefferson used the Bible to create his own version 

Deist Roots In America

The Founding Fathers Were Not Christians

A Letter from Thomas Paine Explaining Deism To A Friend

The 10 Commandments as a Basis for Morality?

Ten Commandments - Same Words - but Three Versions