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."

The Age of Reason is Paine's masterpiece which argued for deism, challenging systemic religion and the rule of the Bible as law.

A bestseller in the US, it brought deistic arguments to the masses. A true popphilosophy title which inspired millions and guided many great thinkers. In 2006, the late Christopher Hitchens argued that The Age of Reason was still one of the most useful titles around 200 years after it was published:

"In a time... when both rights and reason are under several kinds of open and covert attack, the life and writing of Thomas Paine will always be part of the arsenal on which we shall need to depend.