Age of Reason

branie

anyine here read this work by Thomas Paine, and what's the opinion on it?

pH

Here's the wikipedia summary.

The Age of Reason; Being an Investigation of True and Fabulous Theology is a deistic pamphlet, written by eighteenth-century British radical and American revolutionary Thomas Paine, that criticizes institutionalized religion and challenges the legitimacy of the Bible.

Published in three parts in 1794, 1795, and 1807, it was a bestseller in America, where it caused a short-lived deistic revival. British audiences, however, fearing increased political radicalism as a result of the French Revolution, received it with more hostility. The Age of Reason presents common deistic arguments; for example, it highlights what Paine saw as corruption of the Christian Church and criticizes its efforts to acquire political power. Paine advocates reason in the place of revelation, leading him to reject miracles and to view the Bible as an ordinary piece of literature rather than as a divinely inspired text. It promotes natural religion and argues for a creator-God.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Age_of_Reason

As a tract about deism and natural religion it's unlikely to appeal to atheists as such, except in an "enemy of my enemy" type way in its attack on Christianity.

It's long out of copyright - here's a nice online source
http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/p/paine/thomas/p147a/