Dissenter

	Email		Print
	Bookmark		Link

Dissenter

The term dissenter (from the Latin dissentire, “to disagree”), labels one who dissents or disagrees in matters of opinion, belief, etc. In the social and religious history of England

England

Wales

native_name = Cymru|conventional_long_name = Wales|common_name = Wales|image_flag = Flag of Wales 2.svg|national_motto = ...
, however, it refers particularly to a member of a religious body in England or Wales who has, for one reason or another, separated from the Established Church

Established Church

An established church is a Church body officially sanctioned and supported by the government of a country, e.g. the Church of England and the Church of Scotland in the United Kingdom....
.

Originally, the term included English and Welsh Roman Catholics whom the original draft of the Relief Act of 1779 styled "Protesting Catholic Dissenters." In practice, however, it designates Protestant

Protestantism

Protestantism is a movement within Christianity that originated in the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation. It is considered to be one of the three principal traditions of Christianity, together with Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy....
Dissenters referred to in sec.

Discussion

Ask a question about 'Dissenter'

Start a new discussion about 'Dissenter'

Answer questions from other users

Full Discussion Forum

Encyclopedia

The term dissenter (from the Latin dissentire, “to disagree”), labels one who dissents or disagrees in matters of opinion, belief, etc. In the social and religious history of England

England

Wales

Established Church

Protestantism

English Dissenters

English Dissenters were English people Christians who separated from the Church of England. They opposed State interference in religious matters, and founded their own communities in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries....
.)

The term does not apply to those bodies who dissent from the Established Church of Scotland

Church of Scotland

The Church of Scotland , known informally by its Scots language name, The Kirk, is the national church of Scotland. It is a Presbyterianism church , decisively shaped by the Scottish Reformation....
; and in speaking of members of religious bodies which have seceded from established churches outside Britain one usually employs the term "dissident

Dissident

A dissident, broadly defined, is a person who actively challenges an established doctrine, policy, or institution. When individual dissidents unite in a common cause they may become known as a dissident Political movement....
s" (from the Latin dissidere, “to dissent”). In this connotation the terms "dissenter" and "dissenting," which had acquired a somewhat contemptuous flavour, have tended since the middle of the 18th century to be replaced by "nonconformist," a term which did not originally imply secession, but only refusal to conform in certain particulars (for example the wearing of the surplice

Surplice

A surplice is a liturgy vestment of the Western Christianity Christian Church. The surplice is in the form of a tunic of white linen or cotton fabric, reaching to the knees or to the ankles, with wide or moderately wide sleeves....
) with the authorized usages of the Established Church.

Still more recently the term "nonconformist" has in its turn, as the political attack on the principle of a state establishment of religion developed, tended to give place to the style of “Free Church

Free church

The free church movement was a religious movement established to do away with the system of pew rents within the Christian church, wherein persons or families rented or bought the title to a particular church pew....
es” and “Free Churchman.” All three terms continue in use, “nonconformist” being the most usual, as it is the most colourless.

Dissenter

See also