Thomas Paine
I believe in one God, and no more; and I hope for happiness beyond this life. All … institutions of churches … appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit. … The Christian theory is little else than the idolatry of the ancient Mythologists, accommodated to the purposes of power and revenue; and it yet remains to reason and philosophy to abolish the amphibious fraud.