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Anthony Collins, the most philosophically acute of the early eighteenth-century freethinkers, is best known for his defense of freedom of thought or "free-thinking." His approach to philosophical questions is strongly influenced by John Locke as well as other freethinkers such as John Toland. At the heart of his inquiries is a set of philosophical issues that center on religion, natural and revealed: the freedom of the will, the immateriality of the soul, God's existence and attributes, the relation of reason to religion, and the nature and interpretation of evidence that purports to establish the truth of revelation. Collins was early identified by critics as a dangerous enemy of Christianity and a none-too-secret atheist, even if clever enough to cover his tracks against the threat of prosecution. In his writings he rejects the charge that he is motivated by hostility to Christianity or religion generally, or, for that matter, that he has a system of thought to defend.
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