Bible Handbook: For Freethinkers and Inquiring Christians

by George William Foote, William Platt Ball (Editor)

No bible-thumping missionary will ever be safe on your doorstep again! This book includes devastating evidence needed to prove the "Holy Bible" is actually wholly babble.

175 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1972

About the author

George William Foote was born in Plymouth, England on 11 January 1850. In his youth he became a freethinker through reading and independent thought. When he came to London in 1868 he joined the freethought organisations that were flourishing at the time. Foote was soon lecturing at freethought meetings. Charles Bradlaugh, then the leader of the secularist movement, soon recognised Foote's abilities and allowed him to play an increasingly important role in the British freeethought movement. Foote contributed many articles to Bradlaugh's National Reformer and in 1876 founded his own magazine, The Secularist. This was followed by his major publishing success, The Freethinker, which began in 1881 and is still in existence today.

In 1882 Foote was charged with blasphemy for having published a number of biblical cartoons in The Freethinker. These had been modelled after a series of French cartoons that had appeared earlier. After a series of trials Foote was found guilty in 1883 and sentenced to twelve months' imprisonment by Justice North, a Catholic judge. ("The sentence is worthy of your creed," Foote responded.) The Freethinker carried the banner headline "Prosecuted for Blasphemy" during this period, probably increasing its sales.

When Foote was released from prison, he was a hero in freethought circles. He continued writing, lecturing, and editing magazines until Charles Bradlaugh died in 1891. At that time Foote was elected to lead the National Secular Society, founded by Bradlaugh. Foote continued in this role until his death on 17 October 1915.

Reviews

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

A POPULAR ATHEIST CRITIQUE FROM THE TURN OF THE 20TH CENTURY

Co-author G.W. Foote wrote in the Preface to this 1900 book, “The Bible is a volume of miscellaneous character… It is also a very large book, and therefore it is easily read in an uncritical spirit. There is not even an index to help the reader… Hence the necessity for this Bible Handbook, which is chiefly designed for freethinkers, but should also be of service to inquiring Christians. The object of this compilation is certainly not orthodox, and the general body of Christians will doubtless object to its methods. They will probably deny the fairness of pulling the Bible to pieces in this fashion. But the apologists of the Christian scriptures are constantly occupied in belauding them, and there is no necessity to duplicate their performance; on the contrary, there is room for something of an opposite description, and this is what is here produced. Not the best, but the worst things in the Bible are selected; its self-contradictions, its absurdities, immoralities, its indecencies, and its brutalities. Unquestionably it would be grossly unfair to disembowel an ordinary book in this way… But the Bible is not an ordinary book. It is stamped as ‘God’s word’ by an act of Parliament; it is forced into the hands of children in our private and public schools…”

The first section places different biblical passages side-by-side, to demonstrate their apparent contradictions. The “Bible Absurdities” section prints biblical passages, with headings (e.g., “Heaven has foundations and pillars” for 2 Sam 22:8 and Job 26:11); this is probably the most interesting part of the book. Then comes “Unfulfilled Prophecies and Broken Promises.” Next comes “Bible Immoralities, Indecencies and Obscenities” which has headings such as “Noah exposes himself” (Gen 9:20-25), “Filthy language used unnecessarily,” etc.

Besides the G.W. Foote/W.P. Ball “Bible Handbook,” the American Atheist edition also includes John Bowden’s “The Bible Contradicts Itself,” and “Self-Contradictions of the Bible” by an anonymous author.

While apologists would have ready answers for many of the passages presented in the book, and while the book simply quotes the Bible and doesn’t utilize any of the tools of modern Biblical Criticism, this book is nevertheless a “classic” of Freethought, that will be of great interest to Atheists, Freethinkers, and other skeptics.

[Pierre A Renaud]

[Pending]
Other sources for G.W. Foote:
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/autho...
http://infidels.org/library/historica...