What's Important Now?

by Robert L. Johnson

This December 28th marks the 214th anniversary of when Thomas Paine finished writing the first part of The Age of Reason. This is VERY significant for all Deists and in the future, after Deism becomes a household word and is used to greatly improve the world, for the world in general. Even though Ethan Allen had written his outstanding book on God, religion and Deism, Reason: The Only Oracle of Man, prior to Tom Paine's The Age of Reason, Paine's book reached many more people than Allen's book. Both books are well worth the reading, but Paine's writing style is easier than Allen's. Both books, however, burst through the class wall that prior to their publication had kept Deism away from the common person and restricted to the intellectuals. This was a major accomplishment!

The World Union of Deists is building on what Paine and Allen started. We're reaching thousands of new people every month with Deism! Through the altruistic generosity of some of our members and through the subscriptions that our subscribers pay for Deistic Thought & Action!, we are making headway. Although it's not rapid headway at this point, real progress is being made. I deeply appreciate everything that everyone is doing! Thank you VERY much!

The acronym WIN stands for What's Important Now?. Currently, the most important thing we can do NOW is try and build on the growth and progress we're currently making. At this point the best way of doing that is to advertise as much as possible. The Methodist Church is currently running a pretty lame (in my opinion) commercial on television. It's only about a 30 second spot but they run it frequently. Hopefully we will be able to run a television commercial for Deism in the same way (only NOT lame!)! That would really cause a stir and get people talking! As long as we all continue to work together for our common goal, that day will arrive. And the more we DO, the faster it'll get here!

In addition to working and contributing through the WUD, it's important for us to individually reach out to people we encounter on a daily basis with Deism. Of course, we should never do it in a pushy way, but we should take advantage of every opportunity we have to mention Deism. Most people I've encountered are intrigued by it since they've never heard of it before. Word of mouth is very powerful!

In the preface to the second part of The Age of Reason, Paine writes something very encouraging to all Deists. He writes of being in the Luxembourg Prison in France waiting for his execution by being beheaded. At the same time, he was also struck by a very severe fever and thought that he was going to die, either by execution or from the illness. Paine writes, "It was then that I remembered with renewed satisfaction, and congratulated myself most sincerely, on having written the former part of The Age of Reason. I had then but little expectation of surviving, and those about me had less. I know, therefore, by experience, the conscientious trial of my own principles."

This demonstrates a very profound and powerful quality of Deism! We don't need to believe in Abrahamic garbage in order to have peace of mind when we face death! A major selling point of the "revealed" religions is their the fake promises of eternal life in heaven. Deists don't need that! Deism is, indeed, very powerful! The more people we make aware of it, the more Deists we will have and the more progress we'll be able to bring to the world!