Download or read book Friends of Religious Equality written by Timothy Larsen and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2008-02-01 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the middle decades of the nineteenth century the English Nonconformist community developed a coherent political philosophy of its own, of which a central tenet was the principle of religious equality (in contrast to the stereotype of Evangelical Dissenters). The Dissenting community fought for the civil rights of Roman Catholics, non-Christians, and even atheists, on an issue of principle that had its flowering in the enthusiastic and undivided support that Nonconformity gave to the campaign for Jewish emancipation. This study examines the political efforts and ideas of English Nonconformists during the period, covering the whole range of national issues raised, from state education to the Crimean War. It offers a case study of a theologically conservative group defending religious pluralism in the civic sphere, showing the that concept of religious equality was a grand vision at the center of the political philosophy of the Dissenters.