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"In the British West Indies, at the time of slavery, a number of Christians sought to convert slaves from African paganism to Christianity. Some of the Christian slave owners wished to introduce their slaves to the Bible. However, to do so would be to introduce them to concepts of hope, encouragement, and the struggle for personal freedom found within the book. In a misguided attempt to save the souls of the people they deemed "savages" while preventing their exposure to messages of struggle, hope and freedom found within the Bible, a group of white Christian missionaries and slave owners parsed the Bible itself, cutting out and removing all chapters and verses that may have led the slaves to consider the concepts of resistance, escape, and freedom. Under the guidance of Anglican Bishop of London, Beilby Porteus, founder of the Society for the Conversion of Negro Slaves, the Bible was edited down to a simple and understandable volume, devoid of any verse that could inspire insurrection. In addition, the Bishop's orders were to, "Prepare a short form of public prayers for them ... together with select portions of Scripture ... particularly those which relate to the duties of slaves towards their masters.""--… (more)