The Campaign for Philosophical Freedom

By Michael Roll

---

If this title is correct, then why has hardly any English person ever heard of him?

The answer to this question is incredibly simple, because 200 years ago this great free-thinking philosopher had the courage to tell the truth in a country that was run by a handful of political and religious tyrants who were making sure the masses were kept in ignorance.

Paine fought with all his might against slavery in the middle of the lucrative slave trade; he dared to say that every man and woman should have the vote; he put forward a detailed plan for the welfare state with pensions for all; he reasoned that inherited legislators or rulers of states were just as daft as writers, musicians and painters carrying on the work of their parents. Don’t forget this was before the idea of a constitutional monarchy — George III had outrageous political power, unlike our Queen. In fact, I think a non-political monarch would appeal to Thomas Paine bearing in mind the abuse of power by presidents in many republics today. This added to the appalling way he was let down by George Washington. For political reasons the President of the United States of America refused to help free Thomas Paine from his death cell during the French Revolution.

However, the main reason why Thomas Paine has been written out of our corrupt history books, in a country where the Church and the state are still established, is because he did the same thing as Professor Richard Dawkins of Oxford University. He had the courage to question the supernatural absurdities contained in the Christian religion. Mainly that a book called the Bible is no more the word of the creator of the universe than any other book that has ever been published — a "crime" punishable by death in the 1700’s, and still against the law even today. The common law offence of blasphemous libel is still in place in the "free" country of Great Britain! This in spite of the fact that the Law Commission has strongly recommended that this antiquated law is abolished.Unlike Professor Dawkins, Thomas Paine loved the gentle teachings accredited to Jesus and other philosophers who taught survival after death —that we are all personably responsible and liable for our actions during our short stay on planet earth—

"As you sow, so you will reap."

Paine was hopeful of an afterlife. A great many of Thomas Paine’s wildest dreams have come true because he was fighting with right on his side, a very powerful ally. At the beginning of the 21st century we no longer have to just rely on hope regarding an afterlife, because we now have the crushing scientific proof that we all survive death and are immediately reunited with our loved ones who have gone before us. Understandably this scientific proof has really upset the powerful religious establishment who will lose their monopoly on the vast life after death industry when millions find out that we all go into the next world without any help from the priests whatsoever. Now we can understand why the Pope said to Professor Stephen Hawking of Cambridge University:

"I do not care what you do in science, just as long as you do not encroach on my subject — life after death."

The scientific establishment across every discipline, including psychology and philosophy, will also be exposed because they all teach that death is the end of everything — that the mind and brain are the same. The pseudo-scientists have joined forces with the priests in a last ditch, desperate attempt to block the scientific case for survival after death from even coming to the attention of the public — that the mind and brain are separate. It is not only the people of England who are being deceived. Very few Scottish people have ever heard of their most valuable Scotsman ever — the great secular philosopher Arthur Findlay. This Scotsman is hated solely because he told the truth in his history of mankind "The Curse of Ignorance". This is the only history book that tells the truth about Thomas Paine. I have incorporated Findlay’s wonderful tribute in my Thomas Paine Pamphlet. I also list all the books that the establishment forces are praying that ordinary decent people never come across, including Thomas Paine’s banned books, ‘The Rights of Man’ and ‘The Age of Reason’. These American books are sold on licence in Britain. Slowly but surely the British people are beginning to find out just how badly they have been deceived by their leaders and teachers all down through the centuries. These quotes from Thomas Paine show just how badly we are being fixed:

"The world is my country, and to do good is my religion."

"All national institutions of religion appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and to monopolise power and profit."

"You will do me justice to remember that I have always strenuously supported the right of every man to his own opinion, however different that opinion might be to mine. He who denies to another this right makes a slave of himself to his present opinion, because he precludes himself the right of changing it. The most formidable weapon against errors of every kind is reason. I have never used any other, and trust I never shall."

When Arthur Findlay published his history of mankind in 1947 he knew it would be banned from our schools and universities. This statement is taken from page 1111 of volume 1:

"Such however, is still its influence (The Church) that this book, which tells the story of the past honestly and fearlessly, will be kept out of our schools and universities by the authorities, and consequently only in later life will those with enquiring minds discover the truth."

Arthur Findlay has carried on the fight for philosophical freedom that was started by Thomas Paine. This great philosopher, who died in 1964, must surely be in line for the title of The Most Valuable Scotsman Ever. Findlay, like Thomas Paine, has been written out of our biased history books for committing the same "crime": daring to tell the truth in the theocracy of Great Britain — a country where the Church and the state are still established.

"Somehow, everybody just knows that Christianity is the Church, and the Church is a power-structure, an apparatus for limiting freedom in belief and morals."

(The Rev'd Don Cupitt, Dean of Emmanuel College, Cambridge University)