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Thomas Paine, Deism, and the Masonic Fraternity
- Author(s):
- Shai Afsai (see profile)
- Date:
- 2018
- Subject(s):
- Freemasonry, Paine, Thomas, 1737-1809, American Revolution (United States , Revolution (France , Deism, Franklin, Benjamin, 1706-1790, Druids and druidism, Secret societies, Age of reason (Paine, Thomas), Christianity
- Item Type:
- Book chapter
- Tag(s):
- Freemasonry, Deism, Radical Enlightenment, Christianity, Druids, Thomas Paine, Ben Franklin, American Revolution, French Revolution, Fraternities
- Permanent URL:
- https://doi.org/10.17613/1jjh-6x51
- Abstract:
- A close reading of “On the Origin of Free-Masonry” shows that Thomas Paine was not a Freemason at the time of its composition and that the essay’s purpose is to attack organized religion as much as to explicate Freemasonry’s beginnings. “On the Origin of Free-Masonry,” which posits a druid origin to the Masonic fraternity, is of a piece with the confrontational religious approach Paine embraced in his later works, where he denounced revealed religion and endorsed deism. Freemasonry and deism intersected often in revolutionary America and France, and due to Paine’s associations with members of the fraternity in both places and sympathy with certain of its beliefs and aims, he devoted an essay to Freemasonry’s origins, while simultaneously attacking revealed religion in his exploration of the subject.
- Metadata:
- xml
- Published as:
- Book chapter
- Status:
- Published
- Last Updated:
- 5 months ago
- License:
- Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives
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