I've been reading the book, _MT & the Bible_ by Ensor. It seems to have more critical thoughts in it than the one you have here. I doubt if Twain 'borrowed' this from someone else, he had some pretty deep set ideas of religion of his own. Hope it helps! Jules >While rereading Thomas Paine's _Age of Reason_, I came across the >following passages I could swear Twain paraphrased almost word for >word. Can anyone readily point me to specific passages that sound >like: > > > Of all the systems of religion that were ever invented, > there is none more derogatory to the Almighty, more > aunedifying to man, more repugnant to reason, and more > contradictory initself, than this thing called > Christianity . . . The Bible represents God to be a > changeable, passionate, vindictive Being, making a > world and then drowning it, afterwards repenting of > what he had done, and promising not to do so again. > Setting one nation to cut the throats of another, > and stopping the course of the sun, till the > butchery should be done (197). > >Paine, Thomas. The Age of Reason. Ed., Moncure Daniel Conway. >New York: Putnam, 1924. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ Mrs. Jules Austin Hojnowski 1690 Trumansburg Road Ithaca, NY 14850-9213 [log in to unmask] http://lemur.cit.cornell.edu/~jules/jules.html http://lemur.cit.cornell.edu/~jules/Mark_Twain.html @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@