To those who may have the moral courage to read the following pages, I would say, I have neither a desire to shock their feelings, nor any wish to change their sentiments in order to gratify my vanity; for had Christianity been productive of “peace on earth and good will towards men,” I should have been the last to have opposed it. But on the contrary, the page of religious history is blotted with human gore. The intolerant spirit that pervades the Old and New Testaments, has so inoculated its followers of every sect, that while they profess to love each other for Christ’s sake, one sect (the strongest) has put to death a weaker sect for God’s sake. Nothing short of convincing men that the Bible is not a divine revelation, can or will guarantee posterity against a recurrence of those scenes of horror, at the very thought of which, the heart sickens. From the pulpit, and in religious works, nothing is more common than to exclaim with horror at the unblushing Infidel. Unblushing Infidel! What cause have Infidels to blush? The blush, if any, ought to be on the face of the Christians of every sect. They have never failed to persecute when in power: they have been guilty of cruelties, at which the savage cannibal would weep, and this will ever be the case so long as the Bible is considered as coming from God; because, till all consequence is taken away from faith, and transferred to moral rectitude, persecution is the effect of believing that _faith_ is the sure passport to glory, while _unbelief_ is the broad road to perdition. Men cease to be Christians when they lose this spirit of intolerance, and become Infidels. Sects are not alike intolerant; but all are in some degree. The Calvinists will not permit the Unitarians to preach in their churches. The Unitarians, or Universalists, will not permit an Infidel lecturer to speak in their churches,—no, not even on moral subjects. Christians, then, will always be more or less of a persecuting disposition, and nothing but giving up the Bible, as a Divine revelation, will destroy that spirit. To show how a profession of Christianity, unfits men to do justice to those who differ from them in religion, I will refer to the treatment of Thomas Paine, author of “Common Sense.” His services in the glorious struggle that “tried men’s souls” have been shamefully forgotten. Yes! the friend of the immortal Washington, who shared in the toils and dangers with the father of this great republic,—how have Americans generally treated his name and efforts to erect one of the most noble monuments of human wisdom—the _independent republic of North America?_ For all his faithful devotedness to the independence of America, how is his name and memory spoken of at the present time? From the pulpit, every kind of falsehood and detraction is poured forth concerning him.