Paine’s Christianity
(Part
1)
by
Steve Farrell
Of
all the attempts to affix to the Founding Father’s the faithless
brand, “non-Christian secularist”, the only Founder who appears
to deserve such a burning indictment is Thomas Paine.
After all, Tom
Paine was responsible for that infamous shadowboxing match with
the Bible, called “The Age of Reason;” wasn’t he? As a result,
a host of so-called scholars declare Paine an Atheist, and/or
the founder of secular humanism;—and to these claims they add,
“here’s another layer of proof that America was not founded upon
nor influenced in its founding by Christian men and Christian
principles.”
It’s true enough;
Paine wrote the “nasty little book.”
And, here it
ought to end.
As for the supposition
that the other founders embraced “The Age of Reason,” or its mindset:
Jefferson advised Paine never to publish the book. Benjamin Franklin,
Paine’s patron and friend, gave his protégé the same advice. After
reading a draft, he noted, “He who spits against the wind spits
in his own face. If men are wicked with religion, what would they
be without it?” Enthusiasts of the French Revolution: Marx, Lenin,
Mao, Castro, Pol Pot, et al. supply the answer. John Adams, once
a fan of Paine’s, having received his copy, called Paine a “blackguard,”
who writes out of the depths of “a malignant heart.” And Washington,
previously one of Paine’s fiercest advocates, attacked Tom Paine’s
principles in his Farewell Address (without reference to his name)
as unpatriotic and subversive.
A Disgraced Ending
Despite sending
pleas for help to his former brethren in America, Thomas Paine,
unaided, rotted in a French prison awaiting the guillotine. Gouverneur
Morris, observing Paine’s activities, reported to Jefferson that
the fallen angel was now a drunk who amused himself writing essays
against Christ. And although James Monroe eventually rescued Paine,
Paine came back to America in disgrace. He was denied citizenship
in his home state, and buried, upon his death, with no monument
to mark the spot, no memorial to remember the man who previously
had united a country under the inspirational sway of “Common Sense”
and “The Crisis.” His grave was desecrated.
This might seem
cruel; but Paine’s treatment by his former friends provides a
clear cut, unequivocal message for our time—which is this: It
is flat out deception to claim that Paine’s Bible-bashing “Age
of Reason” is representative of America’s Founding Era. Those
who do so are at best, ill informed, and at worst, liars and scoundrels.
Mr. Paine’s
conduct after having left America, spit on her sacred Christian
beginnings—and so this former patriot returned from the bloodthirsty
turbulence of France without honor. A sad and pathetic ending
that scarred and grounded a soaring past.
That said, there
is much to learn from the former Paine—a man whose writings brimmed
and bristled with Christianity. As for the latter Paine, “all
men sin and fall short of the glory of God,” we read. The Bible,
itself, is full of individuals who rose and fell—some repenting
and rising to fight another day—others failing to beat the count.
Yet, we study their inspired words and works with interest and
benefit.
Besides, on
Paine’s worst day, he was far from being the modern founder of
atheism or secular humanism that many claim.
Why The Age of Reason?
I ask; shall
the claimants take Mr. Paine on his own word as to why he wrote
“The Age of Reason”?
In a letter
to Samuel Adams, he explained: “[T]he people of France were running
headlong into Atheism, and I had the work translated and published
in their own language to stop them in that career, and fix them
to the first article of every man’s creed, who has any creed at
all—I believe in God.”
In the first
paragraphs of “The Age of Reason,” Paine restates this purpose:
“The circumstance
that has now taken place in France, of the total abolition of
the whole national order of priesthood, and of everything appertaining
to compulsive systems of religion, and 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.”
Is it sinking
in? Thomas Paine—though he failed in this attempt—sought to rescue
the French Revolution from the extremes of atheism and secularism,
lest France’s new found freedom would be precisely as opponent
Edmund Burke had predicted, “[like] a madman”, or else “a highwayman
and murderer who has broke prison upon the recovery of his natural
rights.”
As for “the
theology that is true” that Paine pled for, much has been said
by others about its Deism; and yet oddly, Paine’s Deism incorporated
Jesus’ grand summary of the law and the prophets as its founding
and nearly, only principle.
Wrote Paine
“with sincerity and frankness”:
“I believe in
one God, and no more; and I hope for happiness beyond this life.
“I believe the
equality of man, and I believe that religious duties consist in
doing justice, loving mercy, and endeavoring to make our fellow-creatures
happy.”
Or in other
words, love of God and love of neighbor;—and add to this, a belief
in the equality of every man as a child of God (the basis of Paine’s
rejection of monarchy);—and lastly, a belief in immortality, and
thus, final judgment, which belief imbues a sense of moral accountability
in every man and every nation.
The Question of Christ's Divinity
It is true,
Mr. Paine rejected the divinity of Christ, and yet, which of his
proponents will admit that Paine said of Jesus in “The Age of
Reason,” “Nothing that is here said can apply, even with the real
character of Jesus Christ. He was a virtuous and amiable man.
The morality that he preached and practiced was of the most benevolent
kind; and though similar systems of morality had been preached
… it has not been exceeded by any.”
Paine’s concerns
about Christ’s divinity were focused on a not too uncommon concern
about the Bible having passed through the hands of corrupt national
churches and other manmade institutions. How much of the Bible
had been tainted? How much of it was mixed with Greek mythology?
Jefferson expressed similar concerns—the difference being, Jefferson
kept them private and attempted to mine for the gems in the Bible
and push away the gravel. He was not in the business of tearing
down Christianity; Jefferson believed himself a Christian.
By contrast,
a bitter and embattled Paine bragged he could write a better book
than the Bible.
This was Paine’s
greatest mistake; in his efforts to reclaim a people who Burke
accurately said, had “total contempt … [for] all ancient institutions,”
Paine, ironically, did just that, ripping out the very foundation
of morality and law he sought to save, which foundation was found
in the Bible.
And yet, the
dark brush with which the author of “The Age of Reason,” painted
Christianity, as presently constituted, wasn’t all dark. It’s
opening offered a ray of hope for the future, a prophetic remark
characteristic of his earlier Christian days—FOR IT WAS FROM HIS
EARLIER CHRISTIAN DAYS.
A Revolution in Religion
Said he:
“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.”
That is, out
of the religious reformation and the religious and political liberty
it spawned, would come a people enlightened and prepared for a
new dispensation of gospel light. This would occur in the United
States. Millions believe it so.
Paine’s involvement
in the French Revolution and in the writing of “The Age of Reason”
was a dreadful mistake and an ugly scar on an otherwise illustrious
life. His learning, his pride, his new associations with false
friends of liberty, turned out the light on a formerly Christian
heart.
Yet, I prefer
to remember Thomas Paine when he was still every whit a Christian,
when he was where God intended him to be, when the destiny of
America and humanity hung in the balance. In those better days,
Heaven spoke, Thomas Paine listened, Thomas Paine wrote, and all
the world is a better place for him having done so.
Meridian Magazine columnist Steve Farrell
is the author of “Dark Rose,” an inspirational novel about faith
and family reviewers are calling “a modern classic.” Read the reviews,
or order
Dark Rose now.
To learn more about Thomas Paine’s
Christianity, keep an eye out for Part 2 and 3 of Steve Farrell’s
examination of the writings of Thomas Paine.
