Thomas Paine--200 Years Ahead of his Time
Thomas Paine:
200 Years Ahead of His Time
A few months ago, while reading a collection of essays, I ran across some quotes from Thomas Paine's The Age of Reason. I became curious to learn more about Paine's life and writings and was hooked once I acquired an abridged version of The Age of Reason, as well as Tom Paine: America's Godfather, published in 1945. What I read about Paine and his writings was shocking. Contrary to popular belief, history does not always credit those who deserve to be remembered. Thomas Paine has not received enough credit for his contributions; furthermore, in his case, the facts were distorted. Why? The answer will become obvious as you read on.
Who was Thomas Paine? He was born January 29, 1737, in Thetford, England. His father, Joseph Pain (Thomas preferred "Paine"), was a Quaker. He was a poor, pious man, who was a staymaker (a maker of corsets) by profession. Paine's mother was Frances Cocke, the daughter of a prominent attorney. Eleven years older than her husband, she belonged to the Church of England. Thomas had no brothers or sisters, and little is recorded about his childhood. When he was thirteen years old, he was removed from school to be apprenticed to a staymaker. At the age of seventeen, he ran away. Paine's father managed to catch him just as he was about to depart England on a ship sailing to fight the French. Later, Paine considered himself lucky when he learned that the ship had been badly defeated, with only twenty-five of the two hundred crew members surviving. Two years later, he joined the Prussian navy and remained at sea for a year or so.
In 1757, Paine returned to London and worked as a stayman while studying astronomy, mathematics, and philosophy. At the age of twenty-two, he married a young woman named Mary Lambert. Upon her death a year later from unknown causes, Paine's enemies made the false accusation that Mary died as a result of abuse by her husband. In 1762, Paine started working as an exciseman (tax collector). He was discharged in 1765 for failing to verify a man's statement about the value of his stock. In 1766, he worked first as a stayman and then as an English teacher. Largely self-taught, Paine had a burning desire for knowledge that continued throughout his life. He successfully petitioned to be reinstated as an exciseman and worked in that capacity until 1774, at the same time developing his skills in oratory and debate.
Paine was much disturbed by the unfairness and corruption of the English political system. The average worker was underpaid and was forced to work from twelve to fourteen hours a day. The legal code was barbaric, and the accepted punishments were cruel. The death penalty was applied for more than two hundred crimes, including stealing a sheep or picking pockets for more than a shilling. Paine was deeply influenced by John Wilkes's writings in The North Briton. In 1771, Paine, then 34, married Elizabeth Ollive, 24. In 1772, he met Benjamin Franklin for the first time in London. The tobacco shop that Elizabeth and her mother operated under Paine's supervision became burdened with debt. To make matters worse, Paine was again discharged from the excise service when he failed to report to work for a couple of weeks while he was avoiding his creditors. To avoid prison, Paine sold his property at public auction and was left with nothing but his clothes. He and his wife separated.
On November 30, 1774, Paine arrived in Philadelphia after considerable encouragement from Benjamin Franklin. He worked as an editor of the Pennsylvania Magazine for six months and then quit to devote his time to the revolutionary cause. In 1775, he wrote an article for the Pennsylvania Journal calling for the abolition of slavery. A month after the article was published, the American Antislavery Society was established.
On January 10, 1776, Paine published a book called Common Sense. In it, he outlined the need for the American colonies to become independent from England. Common Sense was a success, with almost 300,000 copies sold. Most of the book's royalties went toward revolutionary causes. Paine never accepted things on faith and had no respect for tradition. He was a logician and spent his entire life questioning everything. He was a reformer and idealist who promoted common sense as the proper guide for human society. He denounced dueling, slavery, monarchy, hereditary titles, cruelty to animals, and the repression of women.
He viewed slavery as a monstrous evil, calling for all slaves to be freed. This earned him the enmity of both Southern slaveholders and New England slave merchants. Thomas Jefferson agreed with Paine, even though he was a slaveholder himself. Jefferson's antislavery paragraph in the first draft of the Declaration of Independence was removed despite his efforts to retain it. During the war with the British, Paine wrote a series of pamphlets collectively known as The Crisis, which were meant to encourage and inspire the revolutionary army. The phrase "these are the times that try men's souls" is taken from this series. Paine was the first to use the phrase "the United States of America." He advocated the formation of a union between the states in lieu of the establishment of smaller republics. He never took money for his revolutionary writings. As a matter of fact, he declined a very well-paying job that would have involved writing propaganda to promote the Franco-American alliance. Throughout his life, Paine borrowed money to meet his expenses.
In November 1779, Paine was elected clerk of the Pennsylvania Assembly. He donated about a third of his salary to the war effort. Others followed him in this gesture, and in a short period of time, Pennsylvania was able to collect 300,000 pounds. The ladies adopted the idea of contributing to the war effort and established the American Daughters of Liberty to collect food and clothing.
After the British were defeated, Paine was almost forgotten, and the political machinery was controlled by the upper class. Not too many people shared Paine's belief that every individual should have the right to vote. For example, John Adams, one of Paine's enemies, did not support the concept that government should be "of the people, by the people, and for the people."
Philosophy and the support of revolutionary causes were not the only activities at which Thomas Paine excelled. Paine was drawn toward mechanics, mathematics, and astronomy. He invented the first iron bridge, a newfangled crane, an improved carriage wheel, and a smokeless candle. After increasing doubts about Paine's proposed 400-foot iron bridge for the Schuylkill River in Pennsylvania, Benjamin Franklin suggested that he take the model to Paris and submit it to the Academy of Sciences. He left for Paris in 1787. Although the Academy's report was positive, Paine failed to sell the bridge to the French government. He then went to England, where he built a 100-foot model and acquired a patent. The bridge was sold and erected across the River Wear at Sunderland. It had a span of 236 feet and is noteworthy as the first one-stretch bridge in the world that required no piers to support it.
In December 1789, Paine returned to Paris, where he became involved with the French Revolution. He was purposely omitted from the American Constitutional Convention of 1787, because of his views on such issues as slavery, universal suffrage, free schools for all children, and old-age pensions for working people. He envisioned his mission in life as being to redeem humanity from tyranny, poverty, cruelty, and ignorance. In 1790, he worked as an advisor to French liberals who proposed transforming France into a republic. In 1791, he published Rights of Man in England as a direct response to a book by Edmund Burke. Burke's Reflections on the French Revolution attacked the Revolution and supported the king's divine right to pass his throne to his offspring. Paine's Rights of Man is the most important book written on human history and relationships during the eighteenth century.
Thomas Paine believed in internationalism and the brotherhood of man. He advocated the establishment of the equivalent of the League of Nations and the World Court. He wanted to do away with slums, illiteracy, dirt, disease, and class distinctions. Paine wrote, "Independence is my happiness, and I view things as they are, without regard to place or person; my country is the world, and my religion is to do good."
In 1791, Burke's friends hired George Chalmers to write a false biography of Paine that would brand him as a rascal. Unfortunately, many people believed the lies the biography contained. On May 21, 1792, Rights of Man was outlawed in England, and an order was issued for Paine's arrest. He was saved by the poet William Blake and fled to France, where he had earlier received honorary citizenship. On December 17, 1793, Paine was tried in absentia and found guilty of treason. He was declared an outlaw in England and in all the British dominions.
In 1793, the Jacobins crushed the Girondin party, and the Reign of Terror began under the direction of Robespierre. Paine opposed the execution of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, recommending their exile instead. In December 1793, Paine was expelled from the Convention, arrested, and placed in a cell in the Luxembourg prison. Immediately before his arrest, he had finished Part I of The Age of Reason. He remained in the Luxembourg prison for ten months, where he completed a good portion of Part II. Part I was published in 1794, and Part II in 1795. Paine was scheduled to be guillotined, but a simple error in the marking of his cell door saved him. James Monroe, stationed in Paris as the American minister, was successful in petitioning for Paine's pardon. For a time after his release, Paine remained in Madison's house as a guest. Paine was angry with George Washington for taking no action to free him from prison and wrote Washington many letters that found their way into publication. Paine could not return to the United States, because every ship that left France was searched by the British; if he had been caught, he would have been put to death. Napoleon Bonaparte visited Paine in 1797, telling him he had been influenced by the Rights of Man. Paine's initial approval of Napoleon changed to a strong dislike over time.
Paine returned penniless to the United States in 1802, following the French-English war. He borrowed money to travel from Baltimore to Washington to meet with Jefferson, who was president at the time. Many of Paine's old friends turned on him because of the ideas that he expressed in The Age of Reason. He barely escaped death for the fourth time when a gunman tried to shoot him at his home in New Rochelle, New York. He died in absolute poverty on June 8, 1809, and was initially buried on his farm because the Quakers would not allow his burial in their cemetery. Only six people attended his funeral. Paine's bones were exhumed and taken to England by William Cobbett, who hoped to build a shrine, but attempts at fund-raising met with ridicule. Cobbett kept the bones until his death in 1835, leaving them to his son. His son went into bankruptcy, and the bones were subsequently stored by a day laborer, followed by a furniture dealer. Today, the location of Paine's bones is unknown.
Even John Adams, who hated Paine dearly, said that people would attribute the American Revolution to Thomas Paine. Many statements in Rights of Man found their way into the United States Constitution. During his lifetime, Paine was surrounded by enemies who labeled him an atheist and a Christ-hater. As late as 1942, Paine's statue was not erected in Philadelphia because of the religious views he expressed in The Age of Reason. Just what did Thomas Paine write in The Age of Reason?
On the subject of religions and churches:
"I believe in one God, and no more; and I hope for happiness beyond this life."
"I believe in the equality of man; and I believe that religious duties consist in doing justice, loving mercy, and endeavoring to make our fellow creatures happy."
"I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, by the Protestant church, nor by any church that I know of. My own mind is my own church."
"All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian, or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit."
"The adulterous connection of church and state, wherever it had taken place, whether Jewish, Christian, or Turkish, had so effectually prohibited, by pains and penalties, every discussion upon established creeds, and upon first principles of religion, that until the system of government should be changed, those subjects could not be brought fairly and openly before the world, but that whenever this should be done, a revolution in the system of religion would follow. Human inventions and priest-craft would be detected; and man would return to the pure, unmixed, and unadulterated belief of one God, and no more."
"Every national church or religion has established itself by pretending some special mission from God, communicated to certain individuals. The Jews have their Moses; the Christians their Jesus Christ, their apostles, and saints; and the Turks their Mahomet, as if the way to God was not open to every man alike."
"Jesus Christ founded no new system. He called men to the practice of moral virtues, and the belief of one God. The great trait in his character is philanthropy."
"One thing, however, is much less equivocal, which is, that out of the matters contained in those books [the New Testament], together with the assistance of some old stories, the church has set up a system of religion very contradictory to the character of the person whose name it bears. It has set up a religion of pomp and of revenue, in pretended imitation of a person whose life was humility and poverty."
"The invention of Purgatory, and of the releasing of souls therefrom, by prayers, bought of the church with money; the selling of pardons, dispensations and indulgences, are revenue laws, without bearing that name or carrying that appearance."
On the subject of God and revelation:
"But some perhaps will say: Are we to have no word of God, no revelation? I answer, Yes: there is a word of God; there is a revelation. The word of God is the creation we behold: And it is in this word, which no human invention can counterfeit or alter, that God speaketh universally to man."
"Do we want to contemplate his power? We see it in the immensity of the Creation. Do we want to contemplate his wisdom? We see it in the unchangeable order by which the incomprehensible whole is governed. Do we want to contemplate his munificence? We see it in the abundance with which he fills the earth. Do we want to contemplate his mercy? We see it in his not withholding that abundance even from the unthankful. In fine, do we want to know what God is? Search not the book called the Scripture, which any human hand might make, but the Scripture called the Creation.
On the distinction between natural philosophy and theology:
"That which is now called natural philosophy, embracing the whole circle of science, of which Astronomy occupies the chief place, is the study of the works of God, and of the power and wisdom of God in his works, and is the true theology. As to the theology that is now studied in its place, it is the study of human opinions, and of human fancies concerning God. It is not the study of God himself in the works that he has made, but in the works or writings that man has made; and it is not among the least of the mischief that the Christian system has done to the world, that it has abandoned the original and beautiful system of theology, like a beautiful innocent, to distress and reproach, to make room for the hag of superstition."
On the subject of reformation:
"It is an inconsistency scarcely possible to be credited, that any thing should exist, under the name religion, that held it to be irreligious to study and contemplate the structure of the universe that God had made. But the fact is too well established to be denied. The event that served more than any other to break the first link in this long chain of despotic ignorance, is that known by the name of the Reformation by Luther. From that time, though it does not appear to have been made any part of the intention of Luther, or of those who are called reformers, the sciences began to revive, and liberality, their natural associate, began to appear. This was the only public good the Reformation did; for, with respect to religious good, it might as well not have taken place. The mythology still continued the same; and a multiplicity of National Popes grew out of the downfall of the Pope of Christendom."
On the vastness of space, and other worlds:
"A world of this extent may, at first thought, appear to us to be great; but if we compare it with the immensity of space in which it is suspended, like a bubble or balloon in the air, it is infinitely less, in proportion, than the smallest grain of sand is to the size of the world, or the finest particle of dew to the whole ocean, and is therefore but small; and, as will be hereafter shown, is only one of a system of worlds, of which the universal creation is composed."
"If we take a survey of our own world, or rather of this, of which the Creator has given us the use, as our portion in the immense system of Creation, we find every part of it, the earth, the waters, and the air that surrounds it, filled, and, as it were, crowded with life, down from the largest animals that we know of to the smallest insects that naked eye can behold, and from thence to others still smaller, and totally invisible without the assistance of the microscope. Every tree, every plant, every leaf, serves not only as an habitation, but as a world to some numerous race, till animal existence becomes so exceedingly refined, that the effluvia of a blade of grass would be food for thousands. Since then no part of our earth is left unoccupied, why is it to be supposed that the immensity of space is a naked void, lying in eternal waste? There is room for millions of worlds as large or larger than ours, and each of them millions of miles apart from each other."
"From whence then could arise the solitary and strange conceit, that the Almighty, who had millions of worlds equally dependent on his protection, should quit the care of all the rest, and come to die in our world, because, they say, one man and one woman had eaten an apple!"
On the subject of miracles:
"Every thing, therefore, is a miracle, in one sense; whilst in the other sense, there is no such thing as a miracle. It is a miracle when compared to our power, and to our comprehension; it is not a miracle when compared to the power that performs it."
On the subject of past and future existence:
"I trouble not myself about the manner of future existence. I content myself with believing, even to positive conviction, that the power that gave me existence is able to continue it, in any form and manner He pleases, either with or without this body; and it appears more probable to me that I shall continue to exist hereafter, than that I should have had existence, as I now have, before that existence began."
On the subject of what religion should be:
"Nothing that is here said can apply, even with the most distant disrespect, to the real character of Jesus Christ. He was a virtuous and an amenable man. The morality that he preached and practiced was of the most benevolent kind; and though similar systems of morality had been preached by Confucius, and by some of the Greek philosophers many years before, and by the Quakers since; and by many good men in all ages, it has not been exceeded by any."
No wonder Thomas Paine was hated by most people. He was a threat to the monarchy, the churches, and the aristocracy. He was at least two hundred years ahead of his time. Most of his views are the same as Daheshist views, particularly those about democracy, the brotherhood of man, equal rights for women, righteousness, compassion for animal life, freedom of expression, the existence of other worlds, the belief in one God, the belief in a universal religion, and the use of common sense and logic. If Thomas Paine had lived during the twentieth century, and had the chance to meet with Dr. Dahesh, he would have changed his mind about several things to include the purpose of miracles, revelation, past lives and the role reincarnation plays in executing God's justice.
Thomas, for all your troubles and your courage, you have my everlasting thanks and admiration.
200 Years Ahead of His Time
A few months ago, while reading a collection of essays, I ran across some quotes from Thomas Paine's The Age of Reason. I became curious to learn more about Paine's life and writings and was hooked once I acquired an abridged version of The Age of Reason, as well as Tom Paine: America's Godfather, published in 1945. What I read about Paine and his writings was shocking. Contrary to popular belief, history does not always credit those who deserve to be remembered. Thomas Paine has not received enough credit for his contributions; furthermore, in his case, the facts were distorted. Why? The answer will become obvious as you read on.
Who was Thomas Paine? He was born January 29, 1737, in Thetford, England. His father, Joseph Pain (Thomas preferred "Paine"), was a Quaker. He was a poor, pious man, who was a staymaker (a maker of corsets) by profession. Paine's mother was Frances Cocke, the daughter of a prominent attorney. Eleven years older than her husband, she belonged to the Church of England. Thomas had no brothers or sisters, and little is recorded about his childhood. When he was thirteen years old, he was removed from school to be apprenticed to a staymaker. At the age of seventeen, he ran away. Paine's father managed to catch him just as he was about to depart England on a ship sailing to fight the French. Later, Paine considered himself lucky when he learned that the ship had been badly defeated, with only twenty-five of the two hundred crew members surviving. Two years later, he joined the Prussian navy and remained at sea for a year or so.
In 1757, Paine returned to London and worked as a stayman while studying astronomy, mathematics, and philosophy. At the age of twenty-two, he married a young woman named Mary Lambert. Upon her death a year later from unknown causes, Paine's enemies made the false accusation that Mary died as a result of abuse by her husband. In 1762, Paine started working as an exciseman (tax collector). He was discharged in 1765 for failing to verify a man's statement about the value of his stock. In 1766, he worked first as a stayman and then as an English teacher. Largely self-taught, Paine had a burning desire for knowledge that continued throughout his life. He successfully petitioned to be reinstated as an exciseman and worked in that capacity until 1774, at the same time developing his skills in oratory and debate.
Paine was much disturbed by the unfairness and corruption of the English political system. The average worker was underpaid and was forced to work from twelve to fourteen hours a day. The legal code was barbaric, and the accepted punishments were cruel. The death penalty was applied for more than two hundred crimes, including stealing a sheep or picking pockets for more than a shilling. Paine was deeply influenced by John Wilkes's writings in The North Briton. In 1771, Paine, then 34, married Elizabeth Ollive, 24. In 1772, he met Benjamin Franklin for the first time in London. The tobacco shop that Elizabeth and her mother operated under Paine's supervision became burdened with debt. To make matters worse, Paine was again discharged from the excise service when he failed to report to work for a couple of weeks while he was avoiding his creditors. To avoid prison, Paine sold his property at public auction and was left with nothing but his clothes. He and his wife separated.
On November 30, 1774, Paine arrived in Philadelphia after considerable encouragement from Benjamin Franklin. He worked as an editor of the Pennsylvania Magazine for six months and then quit to devote his time to the revolutionary cause. In 1775, he wrote an article for the Pennsylvania Journal calling for the abolition of slavery. A month after the article was published, the American Antislavery Society was established.
On January 10, 1776, Paine published a book called Common Sense. In it, he outlined the need for the American colonies to become independent from England. Common Sense was a success, with almost 300,000 copies sold. Most of the book's royalties went toward revolutionary causes. Paine never accepted things on faith and had no respect for tradition. He was a logician and spent his entire life questioning everything. He was a reformer and idealist who promoted common sense as the proper guide for human society. He denounced dueling, slavery, monarchy, hereditary titles, cruelty to animals, and the repression of women.
He viewed slavery as a monstrous evil, calling for all slaves to be freed. This earned him the enmity of both Southern slaveholders and New England slave merchants. Thomas Jefferson agreed with Paine, even though he was a slaveholder himself. Jefferson's antislavery paragraph in the first draft of the Declaration of Independence was removed despite his efforts to retain it. During the war with the British, Paine wrote a series of pamphlets collectively known as The Crisis, which were meant to encourage and inspire the revolutionary army. The phrase "these are the times that try men's souls" is taken from this series. Paine was the first to use the phrase "the United States of America." He advocated the formation of a union between the states in lieu of the establishment of smaller republics. He never took money for his revolutionary writings. As a matter of fact, he declined a very well-paying job that would have involved writing propaganda to promote the Franco-American alliance. Throughout his life, Paine borrowed money to meet his expenses.
In November 1779, Paine was elected clerk of the Pennsylvania Assembly. He donated about a third of his salary to the war effort. Others followed him in this gesture, and in a short period of time, Pennsylvania was able to collect 300,000 pounds. The ladies adopted the idea of contributing to the war effort and established the American Daughters of Liberty to collect food and clothing.
After the British were defeated, Paine was almost forgotten, and the political machinery was controlled by the upper class. Not too many people shared Paine's belief that every individual should have the right to vote. For example, John Adams, one of Paine's enemies, did not support the concept that government should be "of the people, by the people, and for the people."
Philosophy and the support of revolutionary causes were not the only activities at which Thomas Paine excelled. Paine was drawn toward mechanics, mathematics, and astronomy. He invented the first iron bridge, a newfangled crane, an improved carriage wheel, and a smokeless candle. After increasing doubts about Paine's proposed 400-foot iron bridge for the Schuylkill River in Pennsylvania, Benjamin Franklin suggested that he take the model to Paris and submit it to the Academy of Sciences. He left for Paris in 1787. Although the Academy's report was positive, Paine failed to sell the bridge to the French government. He then went to England, where he built a 100-foot model and acquired a patent. The bridge was sold and erected across the River Wear at Sunderland. It had a span of 236 feet and is noteworthy as the first one-stretch bridge in the world that required no piers to support it.
In December 1789, Paine returned to Paris, where he became involved with the French Revolution. He was purposely omitted from the American Constitutional Convention of 1787, because of his views on such issues as slavery, universal suffrage, free schools for all children, and old-age pensions for working people. He envisioned his mission in life as being to redeem humanity from tyranny, poverty, cruelty, and ignorance. In 1790, he worked as an advisor to French liberals who proposed transforming France into a republic. In 1791, he published Rights of Man in England as a direct response to a book by Edmund Burke. Burke's Reflections on the French Revolution attacked the Revolution and supported the king's divine right to pass his throne to his offspring. Paine's Rights of Man is the most important book written on human history and relationships during the eighteenth century.
Thomas Paine believed in internationalism and the brotherhood of man. He advocated the establishment of the equivalent of the League of Nations and the World Court. He wanted to do away with slums, illiteracy, dirt, disease, and class distinctions. Paine wrote, "Independence is my happiness, and I view things as they are, without regard to place or person; my country is the world, and my religion is to do good."
In 1791, Burke's friends hired George Chalmers to write a false biography of Paine that would brand him as a rascal. Unfortunately, many people believed the lies the biography contained. On May 21, 1792, Rights of Man was outlawed in England, and an order was issued for Paine's arrest. He was saved by the poet William Blake and fled to France, where he had earlier received honorary citizenship. On December 17, 1793, Paine was tried in absentia and found guilty of treason. He was declared an outlaw in England and in all the British dominions.
In 1793, the Jacobins crushed the Girondin party, and the Reign of Terror began under the direction of Robespierre. Paine opposed the execution of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, recommending their exile instead. In December 1793, Paine was expelled from the Convention, arrested, and placed in a cell in the Luxembourg prison. Immediately before his arrest, he had finished Part I of The Age of Reason. He remained in the Luxembourg prison for ten months, where he completed a good portion of Part II. Part I was published in 1794, and Part II in 1795. Paine was scheduled to be guillotined, but a simple error in the marking of his cell door saved him. James Monroe, stationed in Paris as the American minister, was successful in petitioning for Paine's pardon. For a time after his release, Paine remained in Madison's house as a guest. Paine was angry with George Washington for taking no action to free him from prison and wrote Washington many letters that found their way into publication. Paine could not return to the United States, because every ship that left France was searched by the British; if he had been caught, he would have been put to death. Napoleon Bonaparte visited Paine in 1797, telling him he had been influenced by the Rights of Man. Paine's initial approval of Napoleon changed to a strong dislike over time.
Paine returned penniless to the United States in 1802, following the French-English war. He borrowed money to travel from Baltimore to Washington to meet with Jefferson, who was president at the time. Many of Paine's old friends turned on him because of the ideas that he expressed in The Age of Reason. He barely escaped death for the fourth time when a gunman tried to shoot him at his home in New Rochelle, New York. He died in absolute poverty on June 8, 1809, and was initially buried on his farm because the Quakers would not allow his burial in their cemetery. Only six people attended his funeral. Paine's bones were exhumed and taken to England by William Cobbett, who hoped to build a shrine, but attempts at fund-raising met with ridicule. Cobbett kept the bones until his death in 1835, leaving them to his son. His son went into bankruptcy, and the bones were subsequently stored by a day laborer, followed by a furniture dealer. Today, the location of Paine's bones is unknown.
Even John Adams, who hated Paine dearly, said that people would attribute the American Revolution to Thomas Paine. Many statements in Rights of Man found their way into the United States Constitution. During his lifetime, Paine was surrounded by enemies who labeled him an atheist and a Christ-hater. As late as 1942, Paine's statue was not erected in Philadelphia because of the religious views he expressed in The Age of Reason. Just what did Thomas Paine write in The Age of Reason?
On the subject of religions and churches:
"I believe in one God, and no more; and I hope for happiness beyond this life."
"I believe in the equality of man; and I believe that religious duties consist in doing justice, loving mercy, and endeavoring to make our fellow creatures happy."
"I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, by the Protestant church, nor by any church that I know of. My own mind is my own church."
"All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian, or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit."
"The adulterous connection of church and state, wherever it had taken place, whether Jewish, Christian, or Turkish, had so effectually prohibited, by pains and penalties, every discussion upon established creeds, and upon first principles of religion, that until the system of government should be changed, those subjects could not be brought fairly and openly before the world, but that whenever this should be done, a revolution in the system of religion would follow. Human inventions and priest-craft would be detected; and man would return to the pure, unmixed, and unadulterated belief of one God, and no more."
"Every national church or religion has established itself by pretending some special mission from God, communicated to certain individuals. The Jews have their Moses; the Christians their Jesus Christ, their apostles, and saints; and the Turks their Mahomet, as if the way to God was not open to every man alike."
"Jesus Christ founded no new system. He called men to the practice of moral virtues, and the belief of one God. The great trait in his character is philanthropy."
"One thing, however, is much less equivocal, which is, that out of the matters contained in those books [the New Testament], together with the assistance of some old stories, the church has set up a system of religion very contradictory to the character of the person whose name it bears. It has set up a religion of pomp and of revenue, in pretended imitation of a person whose life was humility and poverty."
"The invention of Purgatory, and of the releasing of souls therefrom, by prayers, bought of the church with money; the selling of pardons, dispensations and indulgences, are revenue laws, without bearing that name or carrying that appearance."
On the subject of God and revelation:
"But some perhaps will say: Are we to have no word of God, no revelation? I answer, Yes: there is a word of God; there is a revelation. The word of God is the creation we behold: And it is in this word, which no human invention can counterfeit or alter, that God speaketh universally to man."
"Do we want to contemplate his power? We see it in the immensity of the Creation. Do we want to contemplate his wisdom? We see it in the unchangeable order by which the incomprehensible whole is governed. Do we want to contemplate his munificence? We see it in the abundance with which he fills the earth. Do we want to contemplate his mercy? We see it in his not withholding that abundance even from the unthankful. In fine, do we want to know what God is? Search not the book called the Scripture, which any human hand might make, but the Scripture called the Creation.
On the distinction between natural philosophy and theology:
"That which is now called natural philosophy, embracing the whole circle of science, of which Astronomy occupies the chief place, is the study of the works of God, and of the power and wisdom of God in his works, and is the true theology. As to the theology that is now studied in its place, it is the study of human opinions, and of human fancies concerning God. It is not the study of God himself in the works that he has made, but in the works or writings that man has made; and it is not among the least of the mischief that the Christian system has done to the world, that it has abandoned the original and beautiful system of theology, like a beautiful innocent, to distress and reproach, to make room for the hag of superstition."
On the subject of reformation:
"It is an inconsistency scarcely possible to be credited, that any thing should exist, under the name religion, that held it to be irreligious to study and contemplate the structure of the universe that God had made. But the fact is too well established to be denied. The event that served more than any other to break the first link in this long chain of despotic ignorance, is that known by the name of the Reformation by Luther. From that time, though it does not appear to have been made any part of the intention of Luther, or of those who are called reformers, the sciences began to revive, and liberality, their natural associate, began to appear. This was the only public good the Reformation did; for, with respect to religious good, it might as well not have taken place. The mythology still continued the same; and a multiplicity of National Popes grew out of the downfall of the Pope of Christendom."
On the vastness of space, and other worlds:
"A world of this extent may, at first thought, appear to us to be great; but if we compare it with the immensity of space in which it is suspended, like a bubble or balloon in the air, it is infinitely less, in proportion, than the smallest grain of sand is to the size of the world, or the finest particle of dew to the whole ocean, and is therefore but small; and, as will be hereafter shown, is only one of a system of worlds, of which the universal creation is composed."
"If we take a survey of our own world, or rather of this, of which the Creator has given us the use, as our portion in the immense system of Creation, we find every part of it, the earth, the waters, and the air that surrounds it, filled, and, as it were, crowded with life, down from the largest animals that we know of to the smallest insects that naked eye can behold, and from thence to others still smaller, and totally invisible without the assistance of the microscope. Every tree, every plant, every leaf, serves not only as an habitation, but as a world to some numerous race, till animal existence becomes so exceedingly refined, that the effluvia of a blade of grass would be food for thousands. Since then no part of our earth is left unoccupied, why is it to be supposed that the immensity of space is a naked void, lying in eternal waste? There is room for millions of worlds as large or larger than ours, and each of them millions of miles apart from each other."
"From whence then could arise the solitary and strange conceit, that the Almighty, who had millions of worlds equally dependent on his protection, should quit the care of all the rest, and come to die in our world, because, they say, one man and one woman had eaten an apple!"
On the subject of miracles:
"Every thing, therefore, is a miracle, in one sense; whilst in the other sense, there is no such thing as a miracle. It is a miracle when compared to our power, and to our comprehension; it is not a miracle when compared to the power that performs it."
On the subject of past and future existence:
"I trouble not myself about the manner of future existence. I content myself with believing, even to positive conviction, that the power that gave me existence is able to continue it, in any form and manner He pleases, either with or without this body; and it appears more probable to me that I shall continue to exist hereafter, than that I should have had existence, as I now have, before that existence began."
On the subject of what religion should be:
"Nothing that is here said can apply, even with the most distant disrespect, to the real character of Jesus Christ. He was a virtuous and an amenable man. The morality that he preached and practiced was of the most benevolent kind; and though similar systems of morality had been preached by Confucius, and by some of the Greek philosophers many years before, and by the Quakers since; and by many good men in all ages, it has not been exceeded by any."
No wonder Thomas Paine was hated by most people. He was a threat to the monarchy, the churches, and the aristocracy. He was at least two hundred years ahead of his time. Most of his views are the same as Daheshist views, particularly those about democracy, the brotherhood of man, equal rights for women, righteousness, compassion for animal life, freedom of expression, the existence of other worlds, the belief in one God, the belief in a universal religion, and the use of common sense and logic. If Thomas Paine had lived during the twentieth century, and had the chance to meet with Dr. Dahesh, he would have changed his mind about several things to include the purpose of miracles, revelation, past lives and the role reincarnation plays in executing God's justice.
Thomas, for all your troubles and your courage, you have my everlasting thanks and admiration.
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