The Age Of Reason By Thomas Paine

Paine then talks about the concepts of monarchy and hereditary succession and how Israel once did not have a king but the ancient Jewish people had wanted one to keep the order and the peace among them. Paine says when the Jews decided they wanted a king and God was infuriated, pages from the bible were displayed in this

People, today and in the past, use religion and the Bible to try to explain creation, how we got here, and what happens in the afterlife. However, each religious institution is limited in their interpretation and people are free to choose their beliefs and faith on their own. This is exactly what Paine argues for in The Age of Reason, He believes that people should be critical of organized religion as a means of knowing God and instead people should find God through individual empowerment. Paine believes that religious institutions deceive people and that God can only truly be known through intellectual paths.

“The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph,” imagine hearing that when you need motivation in what seems like the scariest time of your life. Thomas Paine created this pamphlet, Common Sense, in January 1776. Some may question the purpose, and that was to motivate Americans to fight for what they believe in, what they want and what they deserve during the British conflict. Throughout Crisis No. 1, Thomas Paine uses pathos to persuade the colonist and revolutionaries to go to war against the British. Paine talks about how the future will improve, and mentions God many times throughout his pamphlet.

As alluded to in the previous paragraph, Thomas Paine identified as a deist. Similar to revealed religions, deism, or natural theology, teaches that there must have been a “divine First Cause” (Introduction, pg. 11), simply meaning that God created all things; however, natural religion differs from revealed religion in the fact that deist view God as simply that, they do not believe that the deity intervenes with humans in any aspects other than that of creation. In analyzing the core beliefs of each category of religion it is important to consider what actions must be taken to serve the Lord; Paine, as well as other deist, claim “the best way to honor the deity was trough the exercise of reason and

Common Sense was written by Thomas Paine and published in 1776. Paine wrote it as a plea for the American people to break away from Britain and to declare independence from the king. He was asking his audience to take a step back and see that just because something is tradition, does not mean it is necessarily right. Paine wanted to show his readers that government and society is not the same thing, which is how most people viewed it. Society was something that people should want to have, while a government is something that people had to have in order to keep themselves in check. That by paying the various taxes, the people were inadvertently paying to live in such bad conditions. America should break away from and form a democratic party, one that allowed the people to decide what rules they should have. Britain was too far away to be able to rule the colonies correctly. That in being so far away it would take forever for Parliament to respond to any complaints that America might have. Britain was not a favorite with other countries and therefore the colonies were at a greater risk of war because of it. He spoke to his readers in a way so that even the simplest of people would understand how desperately America needed to establish its independence.

God challenges people in times of hardships, however, it depends on the person if they can take upon the challenge and keep faith in God. Eliezer Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor and author of the memoir Night, is one of these people who have to take this test. Elie demonstrates faith is tested in times of trouble through the use of character relation, change in setting and the conflicts that he witnesses.

Throughout the novel Common Sense, Thomas Paine is very transparent with his views on British parliament and their what seems to be never ending control over the colonies. He emphasizes that the American colonies must gain their independence in order for them to progress as a whole. When talking about the system of the British parliament, Paine states “Absolute governments have this advantage with them, that they are simple…But the constitution of England is so exceedingly complex, that the nation may suffer years together without being able to discover in which part the fault lies…” Additionally, he shows his disapproval for the British parliament because he believes the system is unreasonable and puts on a façade as if they were.

Embedded in the human spirit is the notion that people possess an innate sense of being an individual, free to think, act, and understand the world surrounding them. In George Orwell’s 1984, individuality is removed to support the Party’s abilities in controlling and exploiting the masses. Yet, despite their success in suppressing the citizens of Oceania there is something rooted in humanity that although can be repressed, still remains implanted within the deepest parts of a person’s mind. In the novel, while the Party attempts to annihilate all human instincts in order to acquire pure and absolute power, it is unknown to them that despite their best efforts there lies something much more dominant in the human mind which although can be inhibited may never be entirely eliminated. As Winston ponders revolutionary ideas, his physical body unknowing to his conscious mind, is complacent with his innermost thoughts to rebel in any way possible. Winston’s thoughts of unorthodoxy become enhanced through Julia because he discovers someone who desires and understands him, conjuring up something instinctual in him which has been waiting to be released. To care and protect someone else becomes instinctive when he/she experiences suffering or pain and this kind of understanding is acknowledged through the only people Winston believes express any sanity in a corrupt world: the proletarians. A person’s impulse to resist an oppressive nature is instinctual and this is validated through

Paine may not have been the perfect man but he did have great ideas at least for some people in America. In Hogeland sure essay he describes how pains ideas are greatly divided here in the 21st-century. For example pain talks about not getting religion and politics mixed in with each other, as in don’t let your beliefs in God affect the way a country should be ran “Those objecting to religious-right projects like teaching creationism in schools invoke Paine the Deist, exponent of scientific inquiry. Yet WallBuilders, a conservative Christian organization, cites a 1797 speech in which Paine criticized science teachers for overemphasizing reason and ignoring the "Divine Author." (Hogeland, p69) this is the main theme Hogland is trying to get at. People today are very particular about their politics and how they should be run based on ideas of the past for example, the constitution that was written in the 1700s by the founding fathers of America. People today find this document to be life or death if you want to go against it, its is considered un-American or completely against republicanism and democracy. He is saying people change their views based on what is most acceptable to them at

Thomas Paine, a revolutionary, intellectual, and supporter of American independence from England published a book titled, “Rights of Man” which deals with the government shielding the natural rights of its people. Initially, the book captures the diverse aspect of this nation, but it fails to reveal the struggles that arise to preserve and adapt to such a society. Paine expresses his optimism towards the supposed perfection of American society, as one “made up...of people from different nations,” with certain expectations. Additionally, the time gap between “Rights of Man” and modern America cannot be neglected. Paine wrote during an era in which “constructing a government on the principles of society and the rights of man” was the essential objective of the country. However, modern-day America experiences opposite ideals and Paine’s theory no longer remains true because of the educational gap between the rich and poor, terrorism, and racial profiling.

In life, you are born into societies where various ideas or things are thought to be normal and the customs are already established. The novel Anthem by Ayn Rand has many themes, but what I believe the theme of the novel is, to think for yourself. To think for yourself means to make your own decisions and opinions, without depending on other people. I also think that if you are going to think for yourself you can’t worry about what other people will think of what you believe in. Whether you believe that you should only have school a few days a week or you believe in a certain god, no person should feel ashamed for what they believe in. In today’s society and in the society of Anthem, people don’t think for themselves and they just follow people blindly. In the media, today we see what celebrities are saying, who they like, who they dislike, what they use, what they endorse, and we follow them because we want to be like them. Sometimes you don’t realize that you’re not thinking for yourself, but not being able to think for yourself can make you miserable and that is what Equality 7-2521 realized in Anthem.

With the knowledge of war you have today, would you be willing to volunteer to sign up for the front line?

The difference between “Serpents of Paradise” by Edward Abbey and “Thinking Like a Mountain” by Aldo Leopold is specifically that one essay focuses more on the hunting aspect of life. Both essays seem to care about the environment. In Abbey’s essay he tries to figure out how to avoid killing the snake; he needed to stay calm and move it without getting bit. In Leopold’s essay he killed a wolf to save the deer population; allowing him to hunt more deer. Each essay was written with great description, yet showing one author cared more about the animal and its environment over the other. In both Leopold and Abbey essays they wanted to alter their environment, but only Abbey succeeded due to Abbey having the correct knowledge when it came to his environment.

Justice is the process result of using law to fairly judge and punish a crime or a criminal. Injustice is the lack of fairness and justice. Martin Luther King Jr. led the civil rights movement. This movement was a mass popular movement to secure equal access and opportunities for the basic privileges and rights of U.S. citizenship to all the people living in America. The act was active between 1955 and 1968. King was famous for using nonviolent resistance to overcome injustice, and he never got tired of trying to end segregation laws. In 1963 Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested and sent to jail because he and others were protesting the treatment of blacks in Birmingham, Alabama. A court had ordered that King could not hold protests in Birmingham. While King was in jail, he wrote a letter, “Letter From Birmingham Jail”, to the newspaper explaining why he had broken the law. In the book, “Antigone” by Sophocles, similar events had happened to the main character, Antigone. Creon, the king of Thebes, had ordered for no one to mourn over the death of Polynices, son of Oedipus (the former king of Thebes who unwittingly killed his father and married his mother), there was to be no type of burial or prayers for him. If anyone was to try and touch the body of Polynices there was to be sentenced to death. Antigone played a bigger role than Creon in that she defied the law and started the whole play’s chain of events, eventually leading to nearly everyone’s death. Regardless Ismene’s, her sister, warning to listen to the king’s edict, Antigone gave her brother a burial, prayers and poured ritual wine on the corpse. Martin Luther King Jr. and Antigone both had fought for something they believed in, something that went against the law and both were punished for their ‘crime’.

Throughout “The Age of Reason,” Thomas Paine gives several examples for why he is opposed to Christianity. Before I began reading this essay, I was absolutely positive that I was going to disagree with every point that Paine had to make and every opinion that he expressed. It did not take long for me to realize that I had made the wrong assumption. There was more than one occasion while reading “The Age of Reason” that I discovered I actually agreed with Paine's opinion/belief. This encouraged me to read “The Age of Reason” once again, but this time with an open-mind. I decided that I would also take notes on the similarities and differences between Paine's worldview and mine.