Man has the power of making books, inventing stories of God, and calling them revelation, or the Word of God. The Koran exists as an instance that this can be done, and we must be credulous indeed to suppose that this is the only instance, and Mahomet the only impostor. The Jews could match him, and the Church of Rome could overmatch the Jews. The Mahometans believe the Koran, the Christians believe the Bible, and it is education makes all the difference.
Books, whether Bibles or Korans, carry no evidence of being the work of any other power than man. It is only that which man cannot do that carries the evidence of being the work of a superior power. Man could not invent and make a universe – he could not invent nature, for nature is of divine origin. It is the laws by which the universe is governed.
I like Thomas Paine. I think I’m becoming more and more like him in my views on religion. Paine, Like Jefferson, was a Deist. Both had a strong belief in God, but not in organized religion. Mark Twain had similar views. He loved people, but absolutely despised ‘people.