In Paine's day it was the Church of England that sided with the despot.
I notice that there's been a quiet transition from "Gnostics" to "atheists". I though gnostics, while not Christians, do belive in a supreme being/creator.
That's because Paine was brought into the discussion.
He went from siding against the English "chrisian" despots to siding with the French atheist despots.
who has a quite different opinion from yours on what the author would do
On the contrary. I never claimed to have an opinion on what the author might do, having mentioned several times I don't know her.