My other two cents

I understand why Thomas Paine was considered a rebel and to have radical thoughts on religion, slavery and other topics.

Radical or not though, maybe—by natural way—to see the common sense in all of this, is also to see the common ground we all share as One People [one mind].

Personally, I believe the words by Thomas Paine are just as vibrant today as they were when he wrote them   ...and what do you know, he pointed a finger at Sweden in 1776 already, so this is personal!

I see Thomas Paine as a very kind and moderate individual; naturally dead center when it comes to politics and religion, but that's just me.

More words by Thomas Paine:

"The moral principle of revolutions is to instruct, not to destroy."

"Any system of religion that has anything in it
that shocks the mind of a child, cannot be true."

"Everything in this strange system is the reverse of what
it pretends to be. It is the reverse of truth, and I become so tired
of examining into its inconsistencies and absurdities, that I hasten
to the conclusion of it, in order to proceed to something better."

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 •  From  Common Sense: The cause of America is in a great measure the
cause of all mankind. Many circumstances hath, and will arise, which are not
local, but universal, and through which the principles of all Lovers of Mankind
are affected, and in the Event of which, their Affections are interested. The laying
of a Country desolate with Fire and Sword, declaring War against the natural
rights of all Mankind, and exterpating the Defenders thereof from the Face of
the Earth, is the Concern of every Man to whom Nature hath given the Power
of feeling.

…

Nothing flatters vanity, or confirms obstinacy in Kings more than repeated petitioning and nothing hath contributed more than that very measure to make the Kings of Europe absolute. Witness Denmark and Sweden.

…

Europe is too thickly planted with
kingdoms to be long at peace.

…

In the early ages of the world, according to the scripture chronolgy, there were no Kings; the consequence of which was, there were no wars; it is the pride of Kings which throws mankind into confusion. Holland, whithout a King, hath enjoyed more peace for this last century, than any of the Monarchical governments in Europe. Antiquity favours the same remark; for the quiet and rural lives of the first Patriarchs hath a happy something in them, which vanishes away when we come to the history of Jewish Royalty.

Government by Kings was first introduced into the world by the Heathens, from whom the children of Israel copied the custom. It was the most prosperous invention the devil ever set on foot for the promotion of idolatry. The Heathens paid divine honours to their deceased Kings, and the Christian world hath improved on the plan, by doing the same to their living ones. How impious is the title of sacred Majesty, applied to a worm, who in the midst of his splendor is crumbling into dust!

As the exalting one man so greatly above the rest cannot be justified on the equal rights of nature, so neither can it be defended on the authority of scripture; for the will of the Almighty, as declared by Gideon and the Prophet Samuel, expressly disapproves of government by Kings. All Anti–Monarchical parts of scripture have been very smoothly glossed over in Monarchical governments, but they undoubtedly merit the attention of countries which have their governments yet to form. "Render unto Cæsar the things which are Cæsar's," is the scripture doctrine of Courts, yet it is no support of a Monarchical government; for the Jews at that time were without a King, and in a state of vassalage to the Romans.

Near three thousand years passed away, from the Mosaic account of the creation, till the Jews, under a national delusion, requested a King. Till then, their form of government (except in extraordinary cases where the Almighty interposed) was a kind of Republic, administered by a judge and the elders of the tribes. Kings they had none, and it was held sinful to acknowledge any being under that title but the Lord of Hosts. And when a man seriously reflects on the idolatrous homage which is paid to the persons of Kings, he need not wonder that the Almighty, ever jealous of his honor, should disapprove of a form of government which so impiously invades the prerogative of Heaven.

Monarchy is ranked in scripture as one of the sins of the Jews, for which a curse in reserve is denounced against them. The history of that transaction is worth attending to.

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 •  From  The (American) Crisis: 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.

…

'Tis surprising to see how rapidly a panic
will sometimes run through a country.
All nations and ages have been subject to them.

…

Yet panics, in some cases, have their uses; they produce as much good as hurt. Their duration is always short; the mind soon grows through them, and acquires a firmer habit than before. But their peculiar advantage is, that they are the touchstones of sincerity and hypocrisy, and bring things and men to light, which might otherwise have lain forever undiscovered. In fact, they have the same effect on secret traitors, which an imaginary apparition would have upon a private murderer. They sift out the hidden thoughts of man, and hold them up in public to the world.

…

As I was with the troops at Fort Lee, and marched with
them to the edge of Pennsylvania, I am well acquainted
with many circumstances, which those who live
at a distance know but little or nothing of.

…

I call not upon a few, but upon all: not on this state or that state, but on every state: up and help us; lay your shoulders to the wheel; better have too much force than too little, when so great an object is at stake. Let it be told to the future world, that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive, that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet and to repulse it. Say not that thousands are gone, turn out your tens of thousands; throw not the burden of the day upon Providence, but "show your faith by your works," that God may bless you.

It matters not where you live, or what rank of life you hold, the evil or the blessing will reach you all. The far and the near, the home counties and the back, the rich and the poor, will suffer or rejoice alike. The heart that feels not now is dead; the blood of his children will curse his cowardice, who shrinks back at a time when a little might have saved the whole, and made them happy. I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. 'Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.

There are cases which cannot be overdone by language, and this is one. There are persons, too, who see not the full extent of the evil which threatens them; they solace themselves with hopes that the enemy, if he succeed, will be merciful. It is the madness of folly, to expect mercy from those who have refused to do justice; and even mercy, where conquest is the object, is only a trick of war.

…

I dwell not upon the vapors of imagination; I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as A, B, C, hold up truth to your eyes.

…

I thank God, that I fear not. I see no real cause for fear.

…

By perserverence and fortitude we have the prospect
of a glorious issue; by cowardice and submission,
the sad choice of a variety of evils—a ravaged country—a
depopulated city—habitations without safety, and slavery
without hope—our homes turned into barracks and
bawdy–houses for Hessians, and future race
to provide for, whose fathers we shall doubt of.
Look on this picture and weep over it!
And if there yet remains one thoughtless wretch who
believes it not, let him suffer it unlamented.

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"To my fellow–citizens of all nations."

 •  From  Age of Reason (Part I, Chapter I): It has been my intention, for several years past, to publish my thoughts upon religion; I am well aware of the difficulties that attend the subject, and from that consideration, had reserved it to a more advanced period of life. I intended it to be the last offering I should make to my fellow–citizens of all nations, and that at a time when the purity of the motive that induced me to it could not admit a question, even by those who might disapprove the work.

The circumstances that have now taken place in France, of the total abolition
of the whole national order of priesthood, and of everything appertaining to
compulsive articles of faith, has not only precipitated my intention, but
rendered a work of this kind exceedingly necessary, lest, in the general wreck
of superstition, of false systems of government, and false theology, we lose
sight of morality, of humanity, and of the theology that is true.

As several of my colleagues, and others of my fellow–citizens of France, have given me the example of making their voluntary and individual profession of faith, I will also make mine; and I do this with all that sincerity and frankness with which the mind of man communicates with itself.

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.

But, lest it should be supposed that I believe in 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, 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.

I do not mean by this declaration to condemn those who believe otherwise;
they have the same right to their belief as I have to mine. But it is necessary
to the happiness of man, that he be mentally faithful to himself. Infidelity does
not consist in believing, or in disbelieving; it consists in professing to believe
what he does not believe.

It is impossible to calculate the moral mischief, if I may so express it, that mental lying has produced in society. When a man has so far corrupted and prostituted the chastity of his mind, as to subscribe his professional belief to things he does not believe, he has prepared himself for the commission of every other crime. He takes up the trade of a priest for the sake of gain, and, in order to qualify himself for that trade, he begins with a perjury. Can we concieve anything more destructive to morality than this?

Soon after I had published the pamphlet COMMON SENSE, in America, I saw the exceeding probability that a revolution in the system of government would be followed by a revolution in the system of religion. 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.

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 •  From  Rights of Man:

GEORGE WASHINGTON,
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

  Sir,—

I present you a small tretise in defence of those principles of freedom which your exemplary virtue hath so eminently contributed to establish. That the Rights of Man may become as universal as your benevolence can wish, and that you may enjoy the happiness of seeing the New World regenerate the Old, is the prayer of

Sir,

Your much obliged, and
                               Obedient humble Servant,

Thomas Paine.                                   

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I had seen enough of the miseries of war, to wish it might never more have
existence in the world, and that some other mode might be found out to settle
the differences that should occasionally arise in the neighborhood of nations.
This certainly might be done if Courts were disposed to set honestly about it,
or if countries were enlightened enough not to be made the dupes of Courts.

…

That there are men in all countries who get their living by war, and by keeping up the quarrels of Nations, is as shocking as it is true; but when those who are concerned in the government of a country, make it their study to sow discord and cultivate prejudices between Nations, it becomes the more unpardonable.

…

We must not confuse the peoples with their governments.

…

The [English] nation, on the contrary, is very favourably disposed towards the
[French] Revolution, and to the progress of liberty in the whole world; and this
feeling will become more general in [England] as the intrigues and artifices
of its government are better known, and the principles of the revolution better
understood. The [French] should know that most [English] newspapers are
directly in the pay of government, or, if indirectly connected with it, always
under its orders; and that those papers constantly distort and attack the
revolution in [France] in order to decieve the nation. But, as it is impossible
long to prevent the prevalence of truth, the daily falsehoods of those papers no
longer have the disired effect.

…

Therefore it seeks in [Russia] the enemy it has lost in [France] and appears
to say to the universe, or to say to itself: "If nobody will be so kind as to become
my foe, I shall need no more fleets nor armies, and shall be forced to reduce my
taxes. The [American] war enabled me to double the taxes; the [Dutch] business
to add more; the [Nootka] humbug gave me a pretext for raising three millions
sterling more; but unless I can make an enemy of [Russia] the harvest from wars
will end. I was the first to incite [Turk] against [Russian], and now I hope to reap
a fresh crop of taxes."

…

If the miseries of war, and the flood of evils it spreads over a country, did not check all inclination to mirth, and turn laughter into grief, the frantic conduct of the government of [England] would only excite ridicule. But it is impossible to banish from one's mind the images of suffering which the contemplation of such vicious policy presents. To reason with governments, as they have existed for ages, is to argue with brutes. It is only from the nations themselves that reforms can be expected. There ought not now exist any doubt that the peoples of [France], [England], and [America], enlightened and enlightening each other, shall henceforth be able, not merely to give the world an example of good government, but by their united influence enforce its practice.

…

The English Parliament of 1688 did a certain thing, which, for themselves and their constituents, they had a right to do, and which it appeared right should be done. But, in addition to this right, which they possesed by delegation, they set up another right by assumption, that of binding and controlling posterity to the end of time. The case, therefore, divides itself into two parts; the right which they possessed by delegation, and the right which they set up by assumption. The first is admitted; but with respect to the second, I reply—

There never did, there never will, and there never can, exist a Parliament, or any description of men, or any generation of men, in any country, possessed of the right or the power of binding and controuling posterity to "the end of time," or of commanding for ever how the world shall be governed, or who shall govern it.

…

It may perhaps be said that it signifies nothing to a man what is done to him after he is dead; but it signifies much to the living; it either tortures their feelings or hardens their hearts, and in either case it instructs them how to punish when power falls into their own hands.

…

And by the base and false idea of governing men by terror, instead of reason, they become precedents. It is over the lowest class of mankind that government by terror is intended to operate, and it is on them that it operates to the worst effect. They have sense enough to feel they are the objects aimed at; and they inflict in their turn the examples of terror they have been instructed to practise.

There is in all European countries a large class of people of that description, which in England is called the "mob." Of this class were those who committed the burnings and devastations in London 1780, and of this class were those who carried the heads upon spikes in Paris.

…

The error of those who reason by precedents drawn from antiquity, respecting
the rights of man, is that they do not go far enough into antiquity. they do not
go the whole way. They stop in some of the intermediate stages of an hundred
or a thousand years, and produce what was then done, as a rule for the present
day. This is no authority at all. If we travel still farther into antiquity, we shall
find a direct contrary opinion and practice prevailing; and if antiquity is to
be authority, a thousand such authorities may be produced, successively
contradicting each other; but if we proceed on, we shall at least come out
right; we shall come to the time when man came from the hand of his Maker.
What was he then? Man. Man was his high and only title, and a higher
cannot be given him.

…

Every history of creation, and every traditionary account, whether from
the lettered or unlettered world, however they may vary in their opinion or
belief of certain peculiars, all agree in establishing one point, the unity of man;
by which I mean that men are all of one degree, and consequently that all men
are born equal, and with equal natural right, in the same manner as if posterity
had been continued by creation instead of generation, the latter being the only
mode by which the former is carried forward; and consequently every child
born into the world must be considered as deriving its existense from God.
The world is as new to him as it was to the first man that existed, and his
natural right in it is of the same kind.

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"That some desperate wretches should be willing to steal and enslave men
by violence and murder for gain, is rather lamentable than strange."

"The natural source of secresy is fear."

"It is of the utmost danger to society to make
religion a party in political disputes."

 •  My opinion: 'Party' is the keyword. To me, this concerns Organized Religion, nothing else. Of course I bring with me Creator/God/Source should I wish to do work in politics, this is unavoidable if you ask me.

The institutions of Organized Religion have been infiltrated politically since long ago. It seems to me that that's why they got started in the first place.

However, me personally, I wouldn't want to spend my whole living life on planet Earth, discussing religion     …but, here we are though  🤔 😎

"You will do me the justice to remember, that I have always strenuously supported the Right of every Man to his own opinion, however different that opinion might be to mine. He who denies to another this right, makes a slave of himself to his present opinion, because he precludes himself the right of changing it."

"It is the duty of every man, as far as his ability extends, to detect and expose delusion and error. But nature has not given to everyone a talent for the purpose; and among those whom such a talent is given, there is often a want of disposition, or of the courage to do it."

"Suspicion is the companion of mean souls, and the bane of all good society. For myself I fully and conscientiously believe, that it is the will of the Almighty, that there should be diversity of religious opionions among us."

"Certain as I am that when opinions are free,
either in matters of government or religion,
truth will finally and powerfully prevail."

Without the pen of the author of Common Sense,
the sword of Washington would have been raised in vain.

John Adams

Download as Poster

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Free Speech, my friend, will put any religion/ideology to the test,

...old as well as new,

...mine as well as yours.

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I agree with many of Mr. Paine's topics
–  not exactly every topic  –
but, I'd have to read more though.
~
Mr. Paine's words are both
electric and vibrant, I think!
~
One could wonder what the Deep State,
Deep Church & Deep Shit (local and international)
were up to during 1775 – 1794?

1794  –  Age of Reason

1791  –  Rights of Man

1776  –  The (American) Crisis

1776  –  Common Sense

1775  –  Liberty Tree

…a legitimate question, you know.  🤔 😎

======================

Something to consider:

"That there are men in all countries who get their living
by war, and by keeping up the quarrels of Nations…"

~~~   Bankers on Both Sides   ~~~

"The […] should know that most […] newspapers are
directly in the pay of government, or, if indirectly
connected with it, always under its orders."

~~~   Corrupt News/Media   ~~~

"There is in all European countries a large class of people
of that description, which in England is called the "mob."
Of this class were those who committed the burnings and
devastations in London 1780, and of this class were
those who carried the heads upon spikes in Paris."

~~~   Professional Protesters   ~~~

"All national institutions of churches,
whether […], […] or […], appear to me no other
than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave
mankind, and monopolize power and profit."

~~~   Corrupt Organized Religion   ~~~

"The natural source of secresy is fear."

~~~   On Secret Societies   ~~~

–>