What does Sagan mean when he says that "the real triumph of Gettysburg” was the behavior of surviving veterans who attended
the goth anniversary of the battle, in 1913?

Thomas Paine is a prolific writer whose dedication to freedom of speech and supports the right of each man made a significant impact in history.  Age of Reason is an essay about religion and his viewpoint on the subject.  He believed in one God and one alone, free from any doctrine and beliefs, and views the moral teachings of different religions and churches, like the Jewish, Catholic, Turkish and others, as a fabrication of facts to manipulate peoples thinking of what is wrong and right.  The only church he trust is his own.

Thomas Paine went on discussing that these different religions have their own take on the word of God, from angels to divine intervention to Moses, which have diverse beliefs on the teachings and even questions each others principles.  He points out the inconsistencies in the writings of the word of God in these various churches that mislead peoples view on what really is the truth.  Paine believed that when the word revelation is applied, it depicts that there is a direct communication between man and God.  He doesnt question the capabilities of God and how God can communicate with mankind if he wishes to, but query in hand is, as revelation is a direct statement to one person, the revelation only pertains to that person.  When that person passes the information to the next person and the person after that and so on, it is not a revelation anymore to the second, third, fourth individual.  It is now considered as hearsay information as it was just passed on and may have been edited at some point of the communication.  Thomas Paine regards revelation as something that cannot be invented by human mind and impossible to modify.

He continued to talk about the makings of the scripture and how it was formulated, causing queries on the credibility of information.  The discussion about how creation, religion and God are connected to different aspect of being arises.  Through astronomy, science and theology, it manifests that the study is not about God alone anymore, but instead focus on the writings of mankinds understanding about the matter.  He urges people to rely not only to the writings of the revelation but have conscious logical reason before taking things to heart.

He also expressed his doubts on how the Christians have altered the innocence of the theology, opening it to a field of fallacy.  He pointed out the hypocrisy of the beliefs and the morality of principles, stating that many churches and its goers exhibit a pretentious behavior   that is inconsistent with the teachings that they preach.  They yield to deceitfulness for the sake of personal satisfaction, forgetting the ethics for their church and religion.  The hunger for power and the urge of corruption lead the Christians to be a questionable morality model.