Thomas Paine And Religion

Thomas Paine, in "The Age Of Reason" (1795) wrote:

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.

On this date, January 10, 1776, Paine published his great pamphlet "Common Sense" that was such an inspiration to the American Revolutionaries. This great patriot was also a deist and fiercely anti-religious. I read recently that because of this he has been denied recognition in the form of monuments, etc. Religionists in government hate Paine because of his anti-religious writings. It's too bad that Christians have such power in our government. Tom Paine would not approve of the influence that Christians wield in America today.

Jim