Yes...as I know. However, he believed in the Christian God, just not that Jesus Christ was divine.

I just think his logic is unlogical...but it turns out logical in the end. All's well that ends well I gues.

I think he was a very intelligent man, but that he was slightly off his coconut. I mean, think about it, he's just raving. Especially in Common Sense. I read it and picture a man pacing across a room screaming the words. That's what I'm trying to say.

I'm not doubting his ideas, his ideas all turn out as being true. But, he's still one of those people who I think are stark raving mad. Sort of like Beethoven-Rembrandt insane. Make any sense what I'm trying to say?

And he was probably not in good favor with the British Government. Which was probably a criminal offense.

He was not a genius, but he clearly wasn't insane. And "The Rights of Man" makes sense, and so does "The Age of Reason." There's another founding father who was not Christian. He was a deist, and if it wasn't for another deist, James Monroe, we wouldn't have the second part of that pamphlet.

Thomas Paine was also ASKED by Benjamin Franklin, on of the real geniuses of our time, to emmigrate to the "Americas" when they met in London. He did not come because he was a criminal, nor because his religious views were unpopular. (Although he was, technically, a criminal for protesting the execution of Louis XIV.) And when he went back to France, Thomas Jefferson asked him to return.

Because he wasn't Christian and was a liberal, he was persecuted, and his literary works riddiculed just before he died and after his death. Even so, Thomas Edison and Abe Lincoln were fans of his.

Let me put into perspective the American Revolutionaries. If you ever get to talk to an Aussi they will give you some interesting insight on what they think of our revolution.

But anyway, the American sons and daughters of the revolution can fall under one of many categories for why they were in the US:

Relgious Persecution- So pretty much if your religion was so up tight and anal that the English kicked you out... ahemm, you've got problems.

Escaping the law- You were a tax offender. So you went to the bank took out all your money got yourself some Indentured Servents and took off before they could arrest you.

Escaping the law II- You were a petty criminal and instead of sending you to jail they sold you as an indentured servent.

So now as you see while there were other reasons they may have ben in the Continental North, the top three really were not in search of a "New Beginning" so to speak, but more along the lines of "I'm in deep shit, time to move"


So yes it is quite possible that he was crazy.

From what I've heard about Paine, I like him. But I'm not too on top of the American Revolution. Shame on me. I may get back to you.