I place the following treatises under your protection.This work is my opinion on religion. I hope you will think fairly: I have always strongly advocated the right of every man to his opinion, however different it may be from mine.He who denies this right to others makes himself the slave of existing opinions, because he himself excludes the right to change them. The most powerful weapon against error of any kind is reason.I have never used any other weapon, and I am sure I will never do so again. Your dear friends and fellow citizens, thomas paine Prison de Luxembourg, Paris, January 27, 1794