Thomas Paine’s book, “The Age of Reason”, is not as well known as his other books, “Common Sense” and “The Crisis”; but, like his other books, it had a great impact, and was an astonishing and courageous piece of writing for his times.
Thomas “Tom” Paine - because of the enormous influence of his writing advocating independence from England and stirring up peoples’ confidence and dream of freedom during the American Revolutionary War – is considered one of the Founding Fathers of the United States.
His most famous lines are from “The Crisis”, written during the American Revolutionary War, which stirred the spirits of all Americans:
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“These are the times that try men’s souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated.”
His pamphlet “Common Sense”, advocating independence from the tyranny of England, was published as the Revolutionary War was beginning, and sold an estimated 500,000 copies, which, out of a population of about 2,000,000 free persons, made it the best selling book ever. John Adams reportedly said, “Without the pen of the author of ‘Common Sense’, the sword of Washington would have been raised in vain.”
“The Age of Reason” came later, published in three parts between 1794 and 1807. It was a bestseller in the United States, but also earned him many enemies for its frontal attack upon institutionalized religion and the legitimacy of the Bible.
Paine believed in deism, a philosophy of religion that valued reason and observation of the natural world as the basis for religious beliefs. Paine, himself, believed in one God, a creator God, but of the major institutionalized religions, he wrote:
“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.
“But lest it should be supposed that I believe many other things in addition to these, I shall, in the progress of this work, declare the things I do not believe, and my reasons for not believing them.
“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, not 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.”
Living, as he did, in the time of two gigantic revolutions – the American Revolution and the French Revolution, Paine envisioned that the destruction of tyranny in the political realm would lead naturally to the destruction of tyranny in the religious realm.
He wrote:
“The adulterous connection of Church and State, wherever it has taken place, has 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.”
Paine was an ardent proponent of freedom and democracy; and his commentaries about the connection between the struggle against tyranny in the religious realm and tyranny in the social and political realms is an insightful one. It is a struggle that still continues. It is a struggle for true freedom.
Paine was right to draw parallels between religion and the state of society. They are deeply interconnected.
A new world is being born around the globe, a new world is being born out of the American experience, revolutions from within and without are breaking down old ways of thinking and being, and amid this fracturing of our world, a new religion is emerging, is required. It is a religion beyond the markers of old tyrannies, the tribal mentality, us and them. It is a religion broad enough to embrace every man, woman and child and the universe itself. It is a religion connected to the cosmos, yet based on reason.
This new religion is emerging everywhere on the planet. It is a prelude to, and the necessity of, a great new civilization.
Thomas Paine’s work was a harbinger of this new age and civilization. It was a bold thrust into the future.
Mark Twain once said:
“It took a brave man before the Civil War to confess he had read the “Age of Reason”. I read it first when I was a cub pilot, read it with fear and hesitation, but marveling at its fearlessness and wonderful power.”
Paine summed up his faith in one sentence:
“The world is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion.”
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"The Buddha and the Dream of America" by James Hilgendorf
James Hilgendorf is the author of “The Buddha and the Dream of America”; “The New Superpower”; “Life & Death: A Buddhist Perspective”; and “The Great New Emerging Civilization” .
