IN our country there were three infidels--Paine, Franklin and Jefferson.
The colonies were filled with superstition, the Puritans with the spirit
of persecution. Laws savage, ignorant and malignant had been passed in
every colony, for the purpose of destroying intellectual liberty.
Mental freedom was absolutely unknown. The Toleration Acts of
Maryland tolerated only Christians--not infidels, not thinkers, not
investigators. The charity of Roger Williams was not extended to those
who denied the Bible, or suspected the divinity of Christ. It was not
based upon the rights of man, but upon the rights of believers, who
differed in non-essential points.
The moment the colonies began to deny the rights of the king they
suspected the power of the priest. In digging down to find an excuse for
fighting George the Third, they unwittingly undermined the church. They
went through the Revolution together. They found that all denominations
fought equally well. They also found that persons without religion had
patriotism and courage, and were willing to die that a new nation might
be born. As a matter of fact the pulpit was not in hearty sympathy with
our fathers. Many priests were imprisoned because they would not pray
for the Continental Congress. After victory had enriched our standard,
and it became necessary to make a constitution--to establish a
government--the infidels--the men like Paine, like Jefferson, and
like Franklin, saw that the church must be left out; that a government
deriving its just powers from the consent of the governed could make no
contract with a church pretending to derive its powers from an infinite
God.
By the efforts of these infidels, the name of God was left out of the
Constitution of the United States. They knew that if an infinite being
was put in, no room would be left for the people. They knew that if
any church was made the mistress of the state, that mistress, like all
others, would corrupt, weaken, and destroy. Washington wished a church
established by law in Virginia. He was prevented by Thomas Jefferson. It
was only a little while ago that people were compelled to attend church
by law in the Eastern States, and taxes were raised for the support of
churches the same as for the construction of highways and bridges. The
great principle enunciated in the Constitution has silently repealed
most of these laws. In the presence of this great instrument, the
constitutions of the States grew small and mean, and in a few years
every law that puts a chain upon the mind, except in Delaware, will be
repealed, and for these our children may thank the Infidels of 1776.
The church never has pretended that Jefferson or Franklin died in fear.
Franklin wrote no books against the fables of the ancient Jews. He
thought it useless to cast the pearls of thought before the swine of
ignorance and fear. Jefferson was a statesman. He was the father of a
great party. He gave his views in letters and to trusted friends. He
was a Virginian, author of the Declaration of Independence, founder of a
university, father of a political party, President of the United
States, a statesman and philosopher. He was too powerful for the divided
churches of his day. Paine was a foreigner, a citizen of the world. He
had attacked Washington and the Bible. He had done these things openly,
and what he had said could not be answered. His arguments were so good
that his character was bad.