in his "meditations on first philosophy" rené descartes sets forth two proofs for god's existence. descartes considered himself to be a devout catholic, and one of the purposes of the "meditations" was to defend the catholic faith. his attempt to ground theological beliefs on reason encountered intense opposition in his time, however: pascal regarded descartes's views as rationalist and mechanist, and accused him of deism. "i cannot forgive descartes; in all his philosophy, descartes did his best to dispense with god. but descartes could not avoid prodding god to set the world in motion with a snap of his lordly fingers; after that, he had no more use for god." descartes steered clear of theological questions, restricting his attention to showing that there is no incompatibility between his metaphysics and theological orthodoxy. later on, cartesian dualism reinforced natural theology in 18th century french deism, especially in the writings of claude gilbert and in the anonymous "militaire philosophe".