The Book of Genesis (comics) was brought up Catholic, and thus is familiar with the more common Bible stories, but gave up the Catholic faith when he was 16. He went through a phase when he was 15 where he "[went] to church a lot, receiving communion, saying the Rosary, praying", but when he started to scrutinize it, "it just fell apart so quickly." Crumb says he is spiritual, gnostic, and not an atheist; he is "interested in pursuing and understanding the spiritual nature of things." He believes there is a God, but "I don't believe [the Book of Genesis is] the Word of God.
The Bible in Spain of colporteurs, who distribute religious works, and this activity became a major focus for the Bible Society in the mid-19th century. The description of Gypsy life in the final chapter of Prosper Mérimée's novella "Carmen" (the source for Bizet's opera) shows many similarities with those in Borrow's "The Bible in Spain" and "The Zincali". Mérimée was familiar with Borrow's writings and commented on them. "In the Footsteps of George Borrow" by Guy Arnold () is a travel book in which the author retraces the steps of Borrow's journey as related in "The Bible in Spain". The Bible in Spain The