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Joseph Mazzini Wheeler (24 January 1850 – 5 May 1898) was an English atheist and freethought writer.
Biography edit
Wheeler was born in London. He briefly worked as a lithographer in Edinburgh.[1] He became an atheist after reading the works of Charles Darwin, John Stuart Mill and Herbert Spencer.[2] In 1868, he met George William Foote and they became lifelong friends.[1] Wheeler worked as an editor for Foote's Freethinker journal. He was strongly anti-Christian.[1]
His most well known work was A Biographical Dictionary of Freethinkers of All Ages (1889).[1] He was vice-President of the National Secular Society.[3]
Wheeler suffered from a mental breakdown and died in an asylum in 1898.[4]
Publications edit
- Frauds and Follies of the Fathers (1882)
- Hume's Essay on Miracles. A new edition, with an introduction commenting upon the views of Campbell, Paley, Mill, Greg, Mozley, Tyndall, Huxley, etc. By Joseph Mazzini Wheeler. 1882. London (Freethought Publ.). 3d.
- The Jewish Life of Christ (1885) [translator]
- Crimes of Christianity (1887) [with G. W. Foote]
- The Crimes of the Popes (1887) [with G. W. Foote]
- A Biographical Dictionary of Freethinkers of All Ages (1889)
- The Christian Doctrine of Hell (1890)
- Bible Studies: Essays on Phallic Worship and Other Curious Rites and Customs (1892)
- Voltaire: A Sketch of His Life and Works (1894) [with G. W. Foote]
- Footsteps of the Past (1895) [with an introduction by G. W. Foote]
- History of Freethought in England (uncompleted)
See also edit
References edit
- ^ a b c d Flynn, Tom. (2007). The New Encyclopedia of Unbelief. Prometheus Books. p. 815. ISBN 978-1-59102-391-3
- ^ Royle, Edward. (1980). Radicals, Secularists, and Republicans: Popular Freethought in Britain, 1866-1915. Manchester University Press. p. 704. ISBN 0-7190-0783-6
- ^ "Joseph Mazzini Wheeler". Freedom From Religion Foundation.
- ^ Stein, Gordon. (1880). An Anthology of Atheism and Rationalism. Prometheus Books. p. 334
Further reading edit
- John Edwin McGee. (1948). A History of the British Secular Movement. Haldeman-Julius Publications.