A few words from Thomas Paine - via James Wolcott

James Wolcott: Sunday Sermonette:

"All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian, or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit."

--Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason

and in the post beneath this one Wolcott points out that the New York Historical Society is running an exhibit called "Thomas Paine: Patriot and Provocateur". As a humanist you might guess that Paine is my favorite founding father, and he's always the one I think of when they talk of this country being founded on the principles of Christianity...