They say the exception proves the rule. Thomas Paine was a founding father who later in life became a complete skeptic. Most of America’s founding fathers were professing Trinitarian Christians. Dozens of them had the equivalent of a seminary degree. Paine was an exception, not the rule.

Thomas Paine was not a typical Founding Father. A former Quaker who came from England, Paine proved to be an excellent writer.

He played a positive role in the American cause by writing “Common Sense,” which celebrates its 250th birthday this year. “Common Sense” was a monograph---more than an article, less than a full book---published in Philadelphia.

I’ve visited the historical marker on the street in Philadelphia where his monograph was published. Interestingly, it is across the street from the society home of Mrs. Powell, who famously asked Ben Franklin: “What kind of government have you given us, Dr. Franklin?” To which he replied, “A republic, Madam, if you can keep it.” 

Paine lost whatever modicum of Christian faith he may have had early in life by the time he wrote “The Age of Reason” in 1793, while in anti-Christian revolutionary France. But that doesn’t mean his masterpiece, “Common Sense,” was in any way anti-Christian.

In fact, he uses the Bible to help bolster some of his anti-monarchical points. 

Here are some excerpts from “Common........

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