Preface by Sanal Edamaruku for the Project Freethought edition of Thomas Paine's Age of Reason.
Thomas Paine was one of the Enlightenment's most remarkable and fearless thinkers. A passionate advocate for reason, liberty, and human rights, he shaped modern democratic thought. When he wrote Common Sense in 1776, it ignited the American Revolution, inspiring the colonies to break free from British rule. But Paine was not content with just one revolution. He journeyed to France to participate in the French Revolution, where he sought to bring the same ideals of liberty and democracy to Europe. However, he soon found himself at odds with the brutal excesses of the Revolution’s leaders, condemning their use of the guillotine and the Reign of Terror. His moral stand led to his imprisonment in Paris, where he barely escaped execution.
Under these dire circumstances, he wrote The Age of Reason, one of the most radical and influential critiques of organized religion. The book was not written in comfort or safety but in the shadow of the guillotine, as Paine faced the real possibility of his execution. His rescue came only through the intervention of the United States' founding fathers, who secured his release and brought him back to America.
Paine’s The Age of Reason was a clarion call for a world ruled by reason rather than religious dogma. He attacked the foundations of organized religion, challenging the divine authority claimed by Jewish, Christian, and Islamic traditions. He exposed the contradictions, absurdities, and moral failures of the Bible, denouncing both the Old and New Testaments as human-made myths. He extended his critique to Islam, the dominant faith of the Ottoman Empire, rejecting its supernatural claims and its authoritarian structure. Paine did not argue for atheism but for a rational deism—one that embraced a belief in a Creator while rejecting all revealed religions as instruments of oppression and ignorance.
Paine’s Deism was revolutionary for his time. Unlike traditional religious believers, he did not see God as an interventionist deity who dictated scriptures or interfered in human affairs. Instead, he viewed the Creator as a rational force that set the universe in motion, leaving humanity to navigate its moral and intellectual development through reason and science. This perspective was a profound step towards modern rationalism, marking a transition from religious orthodoxy to a worldview driven by inquiry, skepticism, and empirical understanding. His ideas laid the foundation for later secular movements and the advancement of scientific thought, influencing thinkers who would push the boundaries of reason even further.
The Age of Reason was a significant leap forward in human thought, marking the beginning of a new Enlightenment. It was a fearless declaration of intellectual independence, calling for a world in which faith was replaced by reason, superstition by science, and tyranny by freedom. Though Paine’s ideas made him a pariah in his later years, his legacy endures. The principles he championed—critical thinking, secularism, and the pursuit of truth—continue to inspire those who dare to question and challenge the dogmas of their time. In honoring The Age of Reason, we celebrate not just the work of Thomas Paine but the spirit of fearless inquiry that drives humanity forward.
_____________
Project Freethought is making available the eBook Age of Reason free. Get your copy here: https://www.rationalists.net/product-page/age-of-reason-thomas-paine-1
Comments