"Paine held that the people at large had the right of access to all new ideas, and he wrote so as to reach the people. Hence, his book must be suppressed."—Prof. J. B. Bury, LL.D.
John S. Crosby: "The reason why his writings are excluded from our colleges is not on account of what he said about the prophets, but for fear that the realization of his ideas may diminish the profits."
"Recognizing the magic influence that a great name carries with it, the clergy have inscribed in the Christian roster the names of hundreds who were total disbelievers in their dogmas. As the venders of quack nostrums attach the forged certificates of distinguished individuals to their worthless drugs, to make them sell, so these theological venders present the manufactured endorsements of the great to make their nostrums popular. Washington, Jefferson and Franklin have all been denominated Christians, not because they were such, for they were not, but because of the influence that attaches to their names. Paine's opposition to priestcraft was too pronounced and too well known to claim him as an adherent of their faith, and so they have sought to destroy his influence by destroying his good name. Not only this, knowing the prejudice that has prevailed against Atheism, they have misrepresented his theological opinions and declared him an Atheist."—The Fathers of Our Republic.
"This injustice to him was perpetrated in defense of a system that does not care, because it does not dare to have its credentials and foundation critically examined; in other words, Paine has been maligned for more than a century by those interested in keeping veiled the image; he did what he could—and it was much—to uncover to the gaze of the world."—E. C. Walker.
William M. Salter, A. M.: "It is to the shame of religious prejudice in our country that he is not freely and gladly given his place alongside of Franklin and Washington."
"The rankest ingratitude the American people have ever exhibited has been that of the systematic attempt to blot the name of Paine from the memory of succeeding generations, and to allow no historical mention in the annals of the nation which he greatly and gloriously helped to found. But with the destruction of every error truth rises clear and bright. The time will come when his picture will be as familiar to school children as those of his great contemporaries, Washington, Jefferson and Franklin."—. J. B. Wilson.
Pretended reviewers of Paine, including the authors of many encyclopedic articles on Paine, writers who, for the most part, never read the "Age of Reason," characterize it as crude and superficial, declare its arguments to be weak and fallacious and its author to have had little or no influence in changing the religious opinions of his time. It is a sufficient answer to these critics to cite the fact that from thirty to forty elaborate replies from Christian writers followed it in rapid succession, each writer tacitly admitting that it needed answering and that all preceding efforts to answer it had been failures.
Paine's orthodox critics also affect to believe that his "Age of Reason" is no longer read, that it is an "out of print" book for which there is no demand. The fact is ever since the first London and Paris editions were published in 1794 there has been a constant and widespread demand for it.
Millions of copies have been printed and sold during this time, and today the demand for it is greater than ever before.
Dr. John W. Francis (referring to "Age of Reason"): "No work had the demand for readers comparable to that of Paine."