Paine’s harshest critics regard him as little more than a polemicist, or a propagandist (in modern parlance). It seems to be true that when Paine turned from unseating kings to unseating bishops, his rhetoric changed accordingly. Paine was wonderfully popular with the American People in 1776 when he wrote Common Sense, and excited no animosity with The Rights of Man in 1792. But his Age of Reason in 1794, which was no more than a vicious attack on the Holy Bible and having nothing to do with either enlightenment or government, turned them against him and the reverse was irrevocable (Adams was furious with him to near sputtering, his reaction mirroring that of the American People). Paine died unforgiven for his betrayal.
What is astonishing is the reaction of the modern enemies of the Judeo-Christian tradition who seem to think that Paine’s 1794 composition of the The Age of Reason could somehow have had an influence on the American revolutionary act of 1776. Incomprehensible.
And atheist call themselves "bright." LOLOL!
What's that?