A deist is somebody who believes in a god or higher power, but believes humans have not identified this higher power or god. In other words, all organized
religion is almost definitely false, according to deists. Deists technically are embracing an argument from ignorance. However, this is different from a typical argument from ignorance, because the premise is very different. For example, a deist will propose there must be an original creator of existence because, if you follow the
logic of a god's existence, you must forever continue asking "who created god? Who created the creator of that God? Etc."
Deism is basically a "first cause" proposition, meaning they believe in a higher power or a god creating the universe, but this higher power/god must necessarily transcend
time itself, because
everything we know inside of
time follows the basic laws of
time (having a beginning and end). But, if everything has a beginning, there is
never a true beginning of existence itself. That true beginning must have a higher power (or a god). Something without a beginning (transcending
time itself) must have formed the universe, ultimately, even if there were previous universes that spawned our current universe in which we live.
