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As to the Christian system of faith, it appears to me as a species of atheism; a sort of religious denial of God. It professes to believe in a man rather than in God. It is a compound made up chiefly of man-ism with but little deism, and is as near to atheism as twilight is to darkness. It introduces between man and his Maker an opaque body, which it calls a redeemer[.]

— Thomas Paine The Age of Reason (1794)

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Christianity

More quotes by Thomas Paine

It is the duty of every man, so far as his ability extends, to detect and expose delusion and error.

The universe is composed of matter, and, as a system, is sustained by motion.

Discourse to the Theophilanthropists (1798)

To God, and not to man, are all men to account for their belief.

Discourse to the Theophilanthropists (1798)

Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigues of supporting it.

Accustom a people to believe that priests or any other class of men can forgive sins, and you will have sins in abundance.

Worship and Church Bells (1797)

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Must then a Christ perish in torment in every age to save those that have no imagination?

George Bernard Shaw Saint Joan (1923)

The whole religious complexion of the modern world is due to the absence, from Jerusalem, of a lunatic asylum.

Havelock Ellis

Christianity offers reasons for not fearing death or the universe, and in so doing it fails to teach adequately the virtue of courage.

Bertrand Russell Education and the Social Order (1932)

Christianity neither is, nor ever was, a part of the common law [this quote is referring to English Common Law].

Thomas Jefferson Vol. 1 Whether Christianity is Part of the Common Law (1764)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Thomas Paine (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.