“Of all the tyrannies that afflict mankind, tyranny in religion is the worst. Every other species of tyranny is limited to the world we live in, but this attempts a stride beyond the grave and seeks to pursue us into eternity.”

The right to believe as one sees fit, to observe any faith tradition, or no faith tradition, and allowing others to do the same was an ideal for which Thomas Paine firmly believed.

That he was highly critical of organized religion reflected his fear that an institutionalized, hierarchical structure of belief lends itself too readily to a tyranny even more destructive than those of governments and political tyrant

Believe as I tell you or you are condemned to eternal suffering creates a lifeless faith based on fear and despair.
As we know by his writings, most especially The Age of Reason, Paine was a deist. Where he found God was in the life all around him.
He allowed men to aspire to their highest nature, and in so allowing without prejudice, their faith. Thus, he was secure in his own.

While some claim this to be a “moral relativism” can it just as easily serve as the core moral value – the truth – that we claim to seek?

To declare earthly war or eternal damnation in the name of an angry, vengeful God certainly cannot be the only answer.