Elizabeth Edwards was courageous and honest enough to be open about her religious beliefs. The religious right hated her for that honesty.

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The Christian maniacs of the Westboro Baptist Church were protesting the life and death of Elizabeth Edwards at her funeral Saturday. To make no mistake about the depths of their raw stupidity they put it in writing with signs reading, "Elizabeth in Hell" and "Thank God for Breast Cancer." However, they were late in their attack on the dead woman with their Christian self-righteousness and ignorance. Donald Douglas of the Christian right blog, American Power, beat them to the punch and started his attacks on the cancer victim the day after she died. Even Christianity Today picked up his attack.

One of the reasons for the hate from the Christians and the Christian right is Elizabeth Edwards Deistic beliefs. Like the former leading proponent of Atheism who became a Deist, Antony Flew, Elizabeth Edwards held Deistic beliefs similar to those of Thomas Jefferson.

Elizabeth Edwards did not buy into the Christian claim of eternal salvation for believing (though Christianity itself is not clear on just what is required for eternal salvation or to be "saved") in the unnatural and unreasonable Jesus story. She also did not buy into the false Bible promise of faith-healing. She said, "I have, I think, somewhat of an odd version of God. I do not have an intervening God. I don't think I can pray to him -- or her -- to cure me of cancer." This is a very Deistic way of looking at God. Deists believe when we apply our reason to the laws of Nature we are directed to, as described in the Declaration of Independence, Nature's God. Deism only teaches that God exists. It does not have a dogma which describes God and does not pretend to know the mind of God. Edwards' statement "him -- or her" is very offensive to many Christians and other "revealed" religionists. However, to Deists it is not offensive at all since we realize the fact that nobody KNOWS these descriptions of God, they only believe them. Also, the only reason someone would be offended by referring to God as "her" is due to their lack of appreciation and respect for women. This unnatural disrespect for women is found throughout the Bible, Torah and Koran and is based on ignorance. Regarding an intervening God, since there is no dogma in Deism, individual Deists are free to believe whatever makes the most sense to them. For example many Deists do not believe God intervenes in human affairs, but the Deist George Washington believed in God's intervention through Providence but stated that Providence is "inscrutable."

With the passing of Elizabeth Edwards the world is short one honest, true, sincere and courageous person. We would do well to follow her example of such open truthfulness.

Authors Bio:
Bob Johnson is a paralegal and a freelance writer in Florida. He was raised Roman Catholic, but after reading Thomas Paine's The Age of Reason, he became a Deist. In 1993 he founded the World Union of Deists and in 1996 he launched the first web site devoted to Deism, www.deism.com. He is listed in Who's Who in Hell and is the author of Deism: A Revolution in Religion, A Revolution in You and of An Answer to C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity. He wrote the introduction to The Age of Reason, The Complete Edition and to Principles of Nature and also writes for Examiner.com and strike-the-root.com.