, whoever uses common sense upon religious opinions, and will
bestow on this inquiry the attention that is commonly given to most
subjects, will easily perceive that Religion is a mere castle in the
air. Theology is ignorance of natural causes; a tissue of fallacies
and contradictions. In every country, it presents romances void of
probability, the hero of which is composed of impossible qualities. His
name, exciting fear in all minds, is only a vague word, to which, men
affix ideas or qualities, which are either contradicted by facts, or
inconsistent.

Notions of this being, or rather, _the word_ by which he is designated,
would be a matter of indifference, if it did not cause innumerable ravages
in the world. But men, prepossessed with the opinion that this phantom is
a reality of the greatest interest, instead of concluding wisely from its
incomprehensibility, that they are not bound to regard it, infer on the
contrary, that they must contemplate it, without ceasing, and never lose
sight of it. Their invincible ignorance, upon this subject, irritates
their curiosity; instead of putting them upon guard against their
imagination, this ignorance renders them decisive, dogmatic, imperious,
and even exasperates them against all, who oppose doubts to the reveries
which they have begotten.

What perplexity arises, when it is required to solve an insolvable
problem; unceasing meditation upon an object, impossible to understand,
but in which however he thinks himself much concerned, cannot but excite
man, and produce a fever in his brain. Let interest, vanity, and ambition,
co-operate ever so little with this unfortunate turn of mind, and society
must necessarily be disturbed. This is the reason that so many nations
have often been the scene of extravagances of senseless visionaries, who,
believing their empty speculations to be eternal truths, and publishing
them as such, have kindled the zeal of princes and their subjects, and
made them take up arms for opinions, represented to them as essential to
the glory of the Deity. In all parts of our globe, fanatics have cut each
other's throats, publicly burnt each other, committed without a scruple
and even as a duty, the greatest crimes, and shed torrents of blood. For
what? To strengthen, support, or propagate the impertinent conjectures of
some enthusiasts, or to give validity to the cheats of impostors, in the
name of a being, who exists only in their imagination, and who has