On May 28th in 1882, G.W. Foote published an issue of The Freethinker that would land him in jail for the charges of blasphemy. He would be the last person prosecuted under this law, of course, the bullshit prosecutions are still out there, but the names have changed.
In May 1881, G. W. Foote began the radical magazine called The Freethinker. In the first issue he wrote: “The Freethinker is an anti-Christian organ, and must therefore be chiefly aggressive. It will wage relentless war against Superstition in general, and against Christian Superstition in particular”.
Wow, isn't that something, if the New York Times or any other modern day publication read by mainstream U.S.A wrote that today there would be hell to pay. So, G. W. Foote was definitely one hell of a man, in my humble opinion.
His primary writings were parody and satire with weekly Bible cartoons:
In 1882 Foote was charged with blasphemy for having published these biblical cartoons. Two blasphemy prosecutions were brought against the issues of 28 May 1882. Foote pleaded his case that "religion" was "myth" and for humans to obtain their humanist potential, we needed to stop following "myths" -- I paraphrase. Of course, the Christian church controlled everything then as it does now and so Foote was sentenced to a year in prison.
The good news is that just like all the right-wing laws they try pushing down our throats today with their radical-right-wing judges, the prosecution of Foote did nothing to stop progress: The Freethinker is still publishing truth over myth today.
So stay strong people, we're winning and they know it, there will be setbacks, but in the end, Truth will win.
Can I get a hallelujah!
~~ Dr TV Boogie
