To better understand these two Founding Fathers and their attitudes towards Christianity, this paper compares and contrasts
the sentiments of Thomas Paine - author, pamphleteer, and political maverick - and Benjamin Franklin - scientist, author, politician, statesman, and diplomat. It examines their backgrounds, their familial upbringings, their personal
experiences as young men: essentially, how their life experiences shaped and molded their thinking on Christianity. In many aspects, both Paine and Franklin share common grounds on
religion, though there's sufficient diversification that they both publicly espoused and noted in print.