Ethan Allen 1738-1789

[ Famous as an heroic Revolutionary soldier, Ethan Allen is also a first rate Enlightenment philosopher. The quotes are from his book, Reason, the Only Oracle of Man, where Allen argues that responsible adults must rely on reason because there is no alternative.

With the Enlightenment came the emphasis on reason and individual self–reliance. This approach was immediately suppressed by the "O God no! You need guidance!" conservatives.

Ethan Allen realized that if a, so called, “Divine Revelation” is geographically limited then it's an insult to the Almighty Creator of the entire Universe. In addition, belief in a localized and provincial Revelation insults the majority of humankind for not deserving the comprehension of the Perfect God's Divine Word. This is a very important realization because the belief in a less than universal Revelation sustains the hypocrisy, the bigotry, and the dehumanization that are prerequisites for war! In addition, a revelation is prerequisite for the dogma that is necessary for “organized religion.” Isn't it amazing that, even today, so many hypocrites ignore this problem because they have been so brainwashed by their religious heritage? During the Enlightenment, Allen's sentiments were echoed by many. Tom Paine said, When it is revealed to me, I will believe it to be a revelation; but it is not, ...neither is it proper that I should take the word of a man as the word of God... Robert G. Ingersoll observed, Every sect is a certificate that God has not plainly revealed his will to man. And, Thomas Jefferson said, Indeed I think that every Christian sect gives a great handle to Atheism by their general dogma that, without a revelation, there would not be sufficient proof of the being of a god. More recently, Carl Sagan still spoke about the ongoing need for “deprovincialization” if we are to ever have peace and understanding! Human history can be viewed as a slowly dawning awareness that we are members of a larger group. ]

The representation of a God, who (as we are told by certain divines) from all eternity elected an inconsiderable part of mankind to eternal life, and reprobated the rest to eternal damnation ...is a selfish and inferior notion of a God void of justice, goodness, and truth, ...which, if admitted to be true, overturns all religion, ...resolving the whole into the sovereign disposal of a tyrannical and unjust being, which is offensive to reason and common sense, and subversive of moral rectitude in general.

To suppose that God Almighty has confined his goodness to this world, to the exclusion of all others, is much similar to the idle fancies of some individuals in this world, that they, and those of their communion or faith, are the favorites of heaven exclusively; but these are narrow and bigoted conceptions, which are degrading to a rational nature, and utterly unworthy of God, of whom we should form the most exalted ideas.

A revelation, that may be supposed to be really of the institution of God, must also be supposed to be perfectly consistent or uniform, and to be able to stand the test of truth; therefore such pretended revelations, as are tendered to us as the contrivance of heaven, which do not bear that test, we may be morally certain, was either originally a deception, or has since, by adulteration become spurious.

An unjust composition never fails to contain error and falsehood. Therefore an unjust connection of ideas is not derived from nature, but from the imperfect composition of man.

Was a revelation to be made known to us, it must be accommodated to our external senses, and also to our reason, so that we could come at the perception and understanding of it, the same as we do to that of things in general.

Reason therefore must be the standard by which we determine the respective claims of revelation; for otherwise we may as well subscribe to the divinity of the one as of the other, or to the whole of them, or to none at all. So likewise on this thesis, if reason rejects the whole of those revelations, we ought to return to the religion of nature and reason.

Quotes about Allen:
An awful Infidel, one of ye wickedest men ye ever walked this guilty globe.
    ~ Rev. Nathan Perkins

His fortitude and firmness seem to have placed him out of reach of misfortune. There is an original something in him that commands admiration; and his long captivity and sufferings have only served to increase, if possible, his enthusiastic zeal.
    ~ George Washington

Such people as can be prevailed upon to believe, that their reason is depraved, may easily be led by the nose, and duped into superstition at the pleasure of those in whom they confide, and there remain from generation to generation: for when they throw by the law of reason the only one which God gave them to direct them in their speculations and duty, they are exposed to ignorant or insidious teachers, and also to their own irregular passions, and to the folly and enthusiasm of those about them, which nothing but reason can prevent or restrain: nor is it a rational supposition that the commonality of mankind would ever have mistrusted that their reason was depraved, had they not been told so... but for depraved creatures to receive and give credit to a depraved doctrine, started and taught by depraved creatures, is the greatest weakness and folly imaginable, and comes nearer a proof of the doctrine of total depravity, than any arguments which have been advanced in support of it.

[W]hile we are under the power and tyranny of priests, ...it ever will be their interest, to invalidate the law of nature and reason, in order to establish systems incompatible therewith.

If mankind would dare to exercise their reason as freely on those divine topics as they do in the common concerns of life, they would, in a great measure, rid themselves of their blindness and superstition...

Reason spoiled, marred, or robbed of its perfection, ceaseth to be rational, and should not be called reason; inasmuch as it is premised to be depraved, or degenerated from a rational nature; and in consequence of the deprivation of its nature, should also be deprived of its name, and called subterfuge, or some such like name, which might better define its real character.

There is not anything which has contributed so much to delude mankind in religious matters, as mistaken apprehensions concerning supernatural inspiration or revelation; not considering that all true religion originates from reason, and can not otherwise be understood but by the exercise and improvement of it...

[I]n those parts of the world where learning and science has prevailed, miracles have ceased; but in such parts of it as are barbarous and ignorant, miracles are still in vogue; which is of itself a strong presumption that in the infancy of letters, learning and science, or in the world's non-age, those who confided in miracles, as a proof of the divine mission of the first promulgators of revelation, were imposed upon by fictitious appearances instead of miracles.

[T]he fantastical illuminations of the credulous and superstitious part of mankind, proceed from weakness, and as far as they take place in the world subvert the religion of reason, nature and truth.

Those who invalidate reason, ought seriously to consider, whether they argue against reason, with or without reason; if with reason, then they establish the principle, that they are laboring to dethrone; but if they argue without reason, (which, in order to be consistent with themselves, they must do,) they are out of the reach of rational conviction, nor do they deserve a rational argument.

[I]t is impossible for us to understand what reason is, and at the same time determine that our reason is depraved; for this would be the same as when we know that we are in possession and exercise of reason, to determine that we are not in possession or exercise of it.

Reason, the Only Oracle of Man
   by Ethan Allen
...available from:

Project Gutenberg


Pairofdimes.Info PDF Download


The Secular Web

[ Professor Steven Pinker is still making Allen's point that reason is literally non-negotiable:
The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress 16:25 ]


Who Would Attack Reason?


[ In the Bible God tells us He is all good. In all revelation no god ever said that He is going to teach us something new: What it means to be “good.” If people already understood what “good” means without help from a god then morality cannot depend on religion. ]