Thomas Paine's Age of Reason

I had anticipated that I would not enjoy this book just from the mentions of it in class and based off the description on the back, and I was not wrong.  I found this book pretty offensive in a way that was really unnecessary… I think Paine could have gotten his beliefs across and made strong points without completely trashing the church page after page.  I would probably have appreciated this text much more if he had portrayed his thinking in more respectful nature, but I was interested in what he had to say about his own religion.

Paine believed in one and only God just as Christians, Jews, and Muslims do, but was strongly against organized religion.  He found the institution of the church corrupt, and much of his book is him explaining why the Bible should not be trusted and how organized religion fails.  He thought that instead of a Holy book of questionable origins and content (mainly hearsay and unproved “miracles”), one should simply look to creation and nature as God’s Word.  He also believed in the equality of all people; he supported kindness and rights for all humans.  Being a girl, I have no problem with this idea and even agree.  Paine also did not believe in Jesus because he had never witnessed any of the miracles said to be done by Jesus in the Bible (which he also distrusts) and therefore it is merely hearsay; he repeats this belief many times.  He puts a strong trust in science and the laws of the universe, which were created by God, and miracles that go against these principles obviously go against his faith in science.

This is all fine, and even though I did not always agree with some of his beliefs, I was interested while reading it.  My only issue was his harsh criticism of supposedly all organized religion, which pretty much turned into a bash Christianity session.  I think it is fine to voice your opinions on religion and assert your beliefs, as long as it is done with respect.  Religion is a huge part of many people’s lives and can be very important to them, so it is appropriate to address issues with it in a polite manner, which Thomas Paine did not seem to do.  For example, on page 56 he is discussing the story of Creation offered in Genesis and saying why it is not to be regarded as fact, and he says that he does not believe Moses could have been the author of Genesis as is commonly believed because Moses “was too good a judge of such subjects to put his name to that account.”  He goes on to support this by saying how Moses was educated, but that seems to imply that those who believe this are uneducated and not a good judge of such subjects.  Woah. 

My other issue is that if you are going to criticize something and share openly why it is wrong, at least get your facts straight.  There are multiple occasions where Paine attempts to prove why organized religion is wrong with incorrect statements.  These mistakes are often even noted in the footnotes as false; an example of this is on page 61 when he repeatedly mixes up his facts on the life of Jesus while attempting to criticize the New Testament.  He says how Jesus’ parents must have been poor if they were unable to afford a bed for him when he was born, which the footnote refers to as “another slip of the memory on Paine’s part” since Jesus was born in a manger because there was no room at the inn, not because they were poor…  Then he starts talking about the inconsistencies of the New Testament because each gospel has a slightly different account of the same story, but later he states how the language could cause translation issues (in an attempt to prove why the Bible should not be trusted), so couldn’t these translation errors account for the little differences between the gospels?

Although I did not particularly enjoy this text, I think Temple wants us to read it because it gives a completely different perspective from the other two readings in the Ways of Knowing unit.  It opposes directly Genesis and indirectly the Daodejing (because it connects to an organized religion) and having these three completely different viewpoints gives you something to think about.  I think it is important to know about all the other religions no matter which or if you believe in any yourself because of the huge role that it plays in so many people’s lives and shapes their personalities and choices in a big way.  Understanding others’ beliefs helps one to understand that person more overall and that understanding could lead to a greater tolerance for different views.  I think what this world needs is a lot more tolerance.