Paine’s radical politics drew on his religious backgrounds across three faiths

Evidence

Although baptized (like his mother) in the Church of England, a sacramental act that proved essential for becoming an English tax collector, as a youth Paine attended religious meetings with his Quaker father and used that pedigree as a calling card in Quaker Pennsylvania. Quakerism also likely fed his belief in equality, disdain for authority, and opposition to slavery. During his twenties in England, Paine participated in Methodist revivals, which opened his eyes to the power of mass movements to foment reform. While he later rejected all forms of Christianity for deism, Paine’s familiarity with these three faiths prepared him for the cultural and religious diversity of America. — Edward J. Larson, Declaring Independence, 58

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to reading on how religious formation shaped political first principles, parallel to how moral panics and belief systems shape legal values. — connects to: Religion’s political meaning depends on its historical attachments yet remains transformable — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 738

Broader Connections

• Religion’s political meaning depends on its historical attachments yet remains transformable #expands (0.85) — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 738