Thomas Paine Honored in 1922 Philadelphia

Thomas Paine’s celebration from the Slovenian newspaper Glas Svobode (May 12, 1922)

Translated from Slovenian

Thomas Paine Honored in Philadelphia

On April 10th of this year, an American organization known as the “Brotherhood of the Union” celebrated the centennial of the birth of its founder, George Lippard. Lippard was a great writer. In his novels (Legends of the Revolution), Thomas Paine plays a major role. “The little man in the brown coat” became an inspiration to many, who subsequently sought to better understand this great and fearless freethinker.

Thomas Paine was a man of intellect. He was a fearless freethinker; he was a revolutionary. He participated in the French Revolution, which nearly brought him to the guillotine. On the door of his prison cell, a mark was made indicating that the executioners should take this prisoner to the scaffold. In the darkness, the executioners overlooked this mark and passed by. This saved his life. If Thomas Paine had been a clergyman, he would have been declared a saint long ago. His survival would have been attributed to a divine miracle, but since he was a freethinker, it was regarded as mere coincidence.

Thomas Paine was born in Norfolk, England, but he rendered such great service to America—which was then beginning to shake off British bondage—that he deserves the foremost place in the history of the American struggle for independence. Here in this country, at a time when British troops were defeating the rebel forces, he wrote the book The Crisis, in which he stated: “These are the times that try men’s souls.” These words instilled courage in the American fighters for freedom and became a battle cry.

He was a staunch advocate for human rights. When the Revolutionary Convention in France discussed what to do with the captured king and proposed his execution, Paine was the only one who said: “Let us kill the king, but not the man.” By this, he meant that Louis XVI’s royal authority and all privileges should be destroyed, but as a human being, his life should be spared. He wanted to banish tyranny forever. He was, of course, in the minority, and the king’s head fell.
When Burke wrote his reactionary work Reflections on the Revolution in France, justifying royal tyranny and portraying the revolution as a piece of bestial cruelty, Paine immediately responded with his brilliant treatise Rights of Man. People nearly fought over the book, and the British government grew seriously alarmed. They banned the book, and it is well known what the British minister Pitt said at the time: “Tom Paine is quite right, but what am I to do? If I allow such opinions to prevail, we shall have a revolution immediately.”

Thomas Paine was always popular, but when he wrote the work The Age of Reason, he drew upon himself the wrath of the entire Christian world. Only after many years did the world become tolerant enough to begin understanding his high intellect. None of the theologians could answer his arguments, which is why the churches hated him. Today, however, the time has finally arrived when even the most reasonable and courageous clergymen themselves agree with him.
At the aforementioned celebration in Philadelphia, Paine’s memory was also brilliantly honored. Dr. Leffman spoke about him, and among the listeners present were clergymen, several doctors of divinity, and even a bishop.

Dr. Leffman described Paine’s brilliant efforts and his influence during the Revolution. Despite the presence of the clergy, the speaker praised the book The Age of Reason, calling it a work that is not atheistic—as church exploiters have characterized it—but rather deistic. Like Voltaire, Paine believed in one God, but he refused to accept the ancient falsehoods in the Bible and rejected all churches that claim to be the sole path to salvation. He threw the Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Mohammedan faiths into the same basket and flung them all into the mud.

We have decided to translate this magnificent work into Slovenian, so that our compatriots may also read the irrefutable arguments that Paine presents in his book. In today’s issue, we conclude Voltaire’s novels and satires, and in the next issue, the work The Age of Reason will begin its serialization. We highly recommend that all readers do not miss it. They will learn to know the truth exactly as it is.

We would also recommend that Zakrajšek’s clerical journalists read it. They are the ones who need the truth most. If they read The Age of Reason carefully, it might bring some relief to their brains, where they have lately been suffering from such severe attacks of dropsy.