Paine on national churches 5 Apr 2010 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; Writings of Thomas Paine, volume 4, Age of Reason, chapter 1] This is sometimes misquoted as “All churches are human inventions…” Politics Quotes Religion Quotes
Censorship Revisionist historian walks free, rightly so 21 Nov 2008 Frederick Toben is an awful man, who denies the plain fact that the Nazis killed six million Jews and between nine and eleven million Jews, Slavs, Romany, homosexuals, Soviets (civilians and POWs), Poles, disabled, and so on. But what he thinks is not a crime, either in Australia, where he… Read More
Evolution On religion, and apologies 14 Sep 2008 The hyperborean John Pieret, notes that my love for the “social glue” theory of religion (I henceforth steal that name, John; sue me. Oh, wait, you’re a lawyer aren’t you? Never mind) has been backed up by two ASU anthropologists in a new book. I’d feel a lot happier if… Read More
I think the key word in this passage is “institutions”. Note Paine leaves out the word religion entirely in this context.