Early Americans Read the Bible in a Way That Nearly Destroyed America :
As Mark Noll explains in America’s Book: The Rise and Decline of a Bible Civilization, 1794–1911, figures like Paine were instrumental in shaping America’s commitment to independence, which in turned shaped how its people engaged the Bible. In Paine’s mind, and in the minds of many of his contemporaries, Americans had the right to use the Bible however they saw fit, lest they bite the hand—independence—that fed them their freedom.
Yeah, that's why only six people came to Paine's funeral in 1809.
There is hardly a figure from America's revolutionary period who equaled Paine's fall from the heights of influence to the depths of ignominy.
The Paine revival in America came later, on the heels of Darwin's The Origin of Species in 1859.
