In the first few lines of his argument against the church and state, Thomas Paine writes: "I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, Roman church, Greek church, Turkish church, Protestant church, nor by any church that I know of. My own mind is my own church." Later, he writes; "The Jews have their Moses; the Christians their Jesus Christ, apostles and saints; and the Turks their Mahomet; as if the way to God was not open to every man alike." Although historians argue against this fact, one should recognize from these statements that Paine is not a Christian, but he does believe in God, and in fact believes in a connection through revelation with God.

When Paine opens up his third chapter with the statement that he does not mean to write in disrespect of Jesus Christ, it is obvious that he truly believes that the man, Jesus Christ, was a virtuous, moral, and benevolent man. This should not be interpreted as anything other than what Paine claims that he believes Jesus Christ to be a mortal man who is no different from Greek philosophers, or even a Quaker. As such, he should be taken at his word that he believes that churches of any faith are s

Perhaps Paine's strongest argument is that anyone can manipulate language to form any meaning desired. Quoting Addison, he points out the more powerful and direct relationship to the divine can be found in the writings of a contemporary poet than they can be found in a passage of The Bible. Proving that Addison's poem is more powerful than the book. Listing countless scientific discoveries from the wheel to the universe should recognize the fact that Paine argues well from an Enlightenment viewpoint against the viability of the book, and he precedes these with another Enlightened ideal, how the individual is the most viable entity for making discoveries, scientific or spiritual. It is for these various reasons, that even with weaknesses in his argument, Paine argues convincingly, using language as his tool for the Enlightenment, ideal of reason against the supernatural presentation of Christianity as it is found in The Bible.

He uses the Enlightened form of reasoning to carry his argument forward, making "rational" points about his determination. He first attacks the idea of immaculate conception and the resurrection of a dead body and the fallacy in purported witnesses watching it float through the air like a balloon as if flying to heaven. As he claims, the entirety of these ideas cannot fit into the new rationality which has exposed the scientific basis behind conception and the circulatory system, the system that carries within it the air and nutrients of life. In addition, he makes claim to the fact that the only witnesses to this supernatural reality are humans who were themselves representative of the Jewish priests working in collusion with the Roman church (which is entirely unsupported by any evidence of history) that supposedly put Christ to death. According to The Bible, they were so frightened of his power that they brought him to the attention of the empire, who had him put to death for threatening the sanctity of their authority.

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