This year, we are celebrating our semisesquintennial, the 250th birthday of the United States.  Our congregation’s namesake, Thomas Paine, published a little pamphlet in 1774 called Common Sense that went viral in the American colonies.  Today we will look at some of the points Paine advanced in Common Sense that made it into the Declaration of Independence and how Paine contributed in other ways to American independence.  We’ll also examine how Paine’s ideas resonate with our UU principles today, and why he is considered by many to be at least an “adjacent” UU.