Talk:Thomas Paine

Thomas Paine was clearly a deist. That is very evident from his book The Age of Reason (hosted at infidels.org)

I believe in one God, and no more; and I hope for happiness beyond this life.

Though his ethic was fundamentally humanistic:

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.

He did not agree with the beliefs of any religious organization:

I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, by the Protestant church, nor by any church that I know of. My own mind is my own church.

He refers to God as "the Creator" several times, like here:

As therefore the Creator made nothing in vain, so also must it be believed that be organized the structure of the universe in the most advantageous manner for the benefit of man; and as we see, and from experience feel, the benefits we derive from the structure of the universe, formed as it is, which benefits we should not have had the opportunity of enjoying if the structure, so far as relates to our system, had been a solitary globe, we can discover at least one reason why a plurality of worlds has been made, and that reason calls forth the devotional gratitude of man, as well as his admiration.

We can know God only through his works. We cannot have a conception of any one attribute, but by following some principle that leads to it. We have only a confused idea of his power, if we have not the means of comprehending something of its immensity. We can have no idea of his wisdom, but by knowing the order and manner in which it acts. The principles of science lead to this knowledge; for the Creator of man is the Creator of science, and it is through that medium that man can see God, as it were, face to face.

Should we create a category for mislabeled people like Thomas Paine?

--Lpetrich (talk) 19:13, 29 January 2020 (UTC)

Yes, I agree with your analysis. We've used the Heretic category a few times for people that make comments that fly in the face of the major abrahmic religions. I've added it and removed ambiguous. I think it's important he have a page here, just not sure of the best fit. --Sapient (talk) 11:05, 5 February 2020 (UTC)