In times when religious criticism often strives to argue cautiously and balanced, "Good Sense" offers a refreshing counterprogram. Baron Paul Henri Thiry d'Holbach, born in Landau in the Palatinate, unreservedly dismantles religious thought patterns in this work. The biting polemic was first published anonymously in 1772. It inspired the French revolutionaries and laid the groundwork for the separation of church and state that still exists in France today. However, Holbach's arguments are timelessly valid, and his naturalistic, life-affirming worldview continues to resonate to this day. Paul Henri Thiry d'Holbach (1723-1789) belongs to the radical wing of the French Enlightenment. He held a distinctly materialistic and atheistic viewpoint, but his works critical of religion were published anonymously. Even his most famous work, "System of Nature," was not published under his name.