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To: kosta50; Kolokotronis; metmom; stfassisi; MarkBsnr
One cannot approach faith with reason and remain faithful. The Age or reason is the precursor of atheism and it is no coincidence that it was energized by the Protestant west.

I know it must be hard to bypass a chance to criticize "Protestants" but you should know that Thomas Paine (The author of Age of Reason) had this to say about religion in general:

I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish Church, by the Roman Church, by the Greek Church, by the Turkish Church, by the Protestant Church, nor by any church that I know of. My own mind is my own church.
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. (At the beginning of Part I, Age of Reason)

So, would you please point me to where you get the idea that the Age of Reason was energized by the "Protestant" west? That Thomas Jefferson (a deist, most likely) encouraged him and convinced him to come to America after suffering persecution (and a lucky escape from execution) in France in 1794, does not mean he wasn't just as dismissive of Protestantism as Catholicism.

5,335 posted on 12/13/2010 10:23:34 PM PST by boatbums (God is ready to assume full responsibility for the life wholly yielded to him.)
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To: boatbums; Kolokotronis; metmom; stfassisi; MarkBsnr
So, would you please point me to where you get the idea that the Age of Reason was energized by the "Protestant" west?

Your example of Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson is hardly representative of the entire flock of brilliant minds of the late 17th and 18th century. The Roots of the Age of Enlightenment, aka Age of Reason, are most definitely found in Protestant thinkers, and most of them were neither theists (Jefferson) nor atheists (Paine) or suspected unbelievers (David Hume).

John Adams considered himself a Christian (although he belonged to a Unitarian sect). John Locke was definitely a believer, and so were many others, most of them. They were all Protestants at one time or another. Hardly any other Christian group is represented among these great free thinkers.

5,354 posted on 12/14/2010 5:41:02 AM PST by kosta50 (God is tired of repenting -- Jeremiah 15:6, KJV)
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