"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.
I do not mean by this declaration to condemn those who believe otherwise; they have the same right to their belief as I have to mine. But it is necessary to the happiness of man, that he be mentally faithful to himself. Infidelity does not consist in believing, or in disbelieving; it consists in professing to believe what he does not believe.." - Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason (December 1793)
Thomas Paine's words are as heretical today as they were more than two hundred years ago. Americans have forgotten that the colonists and founders fled to the new world to escape established religion. (more on the flip)
To utter these words today in public would certainly be a conversation stopper.
What would happen if one of the presidential candidates quoted Paine instead of George Washington? All hell would break loose. Merry Christmas.