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A Rational Look at Christianity; Basing Reason in Truth

I Don't Get the Praise for Thomas Paine
Beyond authoring Common Sense, what did he do?



What exactly did Thomas Paine do to put himself on that list of "Founding Fathers"? He didn't sign the Declaration of Independence. He wasn't a member of either of the Continental Congresses that wrote the Articles of Confederation or the Constitution. He was never a Congressman and had no input into the creation of the Bill of Rights. In all sincerity, he seems to have had little to do with any of the documents that serve as the organic founding documents of the United States. No, it appears that his designation as a founder lies on two documents he wrote during the American Revolution: Common Sense and the Crisis. He is described as follows on the website:

"These are the times that try men's souls." This simple quotation from Thomas Paine's The Crisis not only describes the beginnings of the American Revolution, but also the life of Paine himself. Throughout most of his life, he was a failure, living off the gratitude and generosity of others, but his writings helped inspire a nation. He communicated the ideas of the Revolution to common farmers as easily as to intellectuals, creating prose that stirred the hearts of the fledgling United States. He had a grand vision for society: he was staunchly anti-slavery, and he was one of the first to advocate a world peace organization and social security for the poor and elderly. But his radical views on religion would destroy his success, and by the end of his life, only a handful of people attended his funeral.

After describing his early life, the article speaks of his contribution to the American revolution:



Following this, the article reports that he did continue to write, but it does not appear that his writings had any further influence on the founding of the United States. In fact, according to the article, "Paine remained in France until 1802 when he returned to America on an invitation from Thomas Jefferson. Paine discovered that his contributions to the American Revolution had been all but eradicated due to his religious views. Derided by the public and abandoned by his friends, he died on June 8, 1809 at the age of 72 in New York City."
So, it appears that while Paine was a deist/atheist, such views were not incorporated into the founding documents. In fact, his later views were so disdained that his earlier works which were admittedly important were, as the article says, "eradicated."

Did his earlier writings reflect the same anti-Christian/anti-theistic views as his later works such as The Age of Reason? Fortunately, both Common Sense and The Crisis are available on-line, and both show an acceptance of the Christian view of God. Consider the following from Common Sense where Paine addresses how kings came to exist:



(Footnotes omitted from all quotes from these books.)

Later, still talking about the appointment of kings, Paine wonders how the first king became chosen such that his heirs should also automatically serve as kings, and says:

Consider his summary of his argument against the Divine Right of Kings:

(Emphasis added.)

The Crisis is not without its own underlying Christian language. Consider the following from Letter II:

(Emphasis added.)

There are many more such quotations in these two writings by Thomas Paine that reflect an underlying Christian worldview. It may be that Mr. Paine did not really hold that world view at the time of these writings, but his writings reflect that world view, and these documents were accepted by the masses because they could relate to them. It shows, at a minimum, that Paine knew that his readers would have that world view and wrote to them to reflect that world view. As such, there is simply no question that Thomas Paine's later, anti-Christian/anti-theistic writings were not influential in the founding of the country. Rather, his writings at the time which were heavy with language incorporating a Christian world view were the reason that he was considered one of the founding fathers.

Mr. Paine's later works will stand or fall on their own. I am not suggesting that just because the views weren't accepted in America does not mean that they may not be right (I have no reason to believe they are, but that is another argument altogether). What I am focusing on here is the fact that it is not appropriate to point to Thomas Paine's later writings and then say "See, the Founding Fathers were deists and their views were incorporated into the Constitution." Such a view can be responded to with three points:

1. Thomas Paine did not have a hand in writing the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence or the Bill of Rights.

2. His writings that were important during the Revolutionary War had a Christian world view--not a deistic one.

3. The fact that he was later shunned in the United States due to his anti-Christian/anti-theist writings shows that such views were not only not part of the underlying beliefs that were incorporated, but shows that the majority of Americans believed such views to be counter to their views.


Long overdue, BK. Make sure to keep this one flagged. You've expressed my sentiments better than I could have about 1) his insignificance in shaping the form of our government (as opposed to his real contributions in encouraging Americans to revolution), and 2) even his influential writings were expressly Christian ones -- whether he believed in them or not he had to write that way to have any impact.

The second point is also somewhat true of Thomas Jefferson. In his presidential campaign the other side tried to paint him as an out-of-step diest who wasn't really a Christian. He spoke Jesus-talk for the rest of the campagin trying to convince everyone he was a good Christian man.

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