Our collection of articles, records and reviews about Thomas Paine and Religion.
The story of Paine’s “conversion” surfaced within days of his death. In fact there has rarely been a critic of Christianity who has not renounced his critical opinions according to writers such as Mr. Samuel, author of works who also trots out the tale of Voltaire having renounced his opinions.
Paine had very enlarged ideas of the rights of others and was, upon principle, a thorough friend to the civil and religious liberties of all mankind. In conversation he was open and liberal, and at the same time serious and instructive.
Young Thomas Paine, Wesleyan Methodist Or Rational Dissenter? Read Post »
In June, 1797 an impoverished bookseller Thomas Williams was charged with blasphemy for having sold a single copy of Paine’s Age of Reason, the prosecution having been initiated by an organisation with the grand title of the Society for Enforcing the King’s Proclamation against Immorality and Profaneness.
Jesus, Paine maintains, was a man not a god and had no intention of starting a new religion. It is worth noting that in Judaism, as the distinguished Jewish scholar, Hyam Maccoby pointed out, for anyone “to claim to be the Messiah was simply to claim the throne of Israel”.
Thomas Paine Society undoubtedly has members who cherish his Age of Reason, their undoubted right, but can they deny that it has damaged Rights of Man for many others? A sad out- come for such an outstanding social reformer, and his work.
The correspondence between Colonel Roosevelt and myself on the subject of Thomas Paine is in the main so directly to the point that an explanatory foreword is hardly necessary. There are nevertheless some matters touched upon in these letters concerning which a few additional words will be of value.
Although not necessarily to be accredited with being the first to question religious privilege and accepted wisdom in spiritual affairs, Paine was undoubtedly their most fierce critic in his day and The Age of Reason articulates the disdain for and the contempt in which he held all-powerful religion.
Moncure Daniel Conway is owed a debt by all those who admire Thomas Paine, for it was Conway who first put him on the biographical map by compiling a comprehensive biography which at one stroke made all previous works of a similar character.
Thomas Paine was not by nature a revolutionary; he was a reformer. His early attitude towards both government and religion was benign, and when his early history is finally presented to the public it will at last become apparent that he was originally a conformist.
Thomas Paine: His Decision To Publish The Age Of Reason Read Post »
Paine, Scripture, and Authority is an important work, particularly as it is the first book for many years to focus on The Age of Reason. Yet for all its value it pays too much attention to what the authors see as Paine’s personal motivation
Although today many eminent Christians, the recently retired bishop of Durham being a good example, express opinions regarding the bible similar, if not going beyond, those of Paine, few, if any, express their very real debt to him for instituting a debate which was ultimately to give them the freedom to express their opinions.
It is a bit of a paradox that some atheists are the most ardent admirers of Thomas Paine and his many faceted life, yet he made it abundantly clear that he believed in one god and that Quakerism left an indelible mark on him in many ways.
