Editing William Shakespeare (section)

===Religion===
{{Main|Religious views of William Shakespeare}}
Shakespeare conformed to the official state religion,{{efn|For example, [[A.L. Rowse]], the 20th-century Shakespeare scholar, was emphatic: "He died, as he had lived, a conforming member of the Church of England. His will made that perfectly clear—in facts, puts it beyond dispute, for it uses the Protestant formula."{{sfn|Rowse|1988|p=240}}}} but his private views on religion have been the subject of debate. [[Shakespeare's will]] uses a Protestant formula, and he was a confirmed member of the [[Church of England]], where he was married, his children were baptised, and where he is buried.

Some scholars are of the view that members of Shakespeare's family were Catholics, at a time when practising Catholicism in England was against the law.{{sfn|Pritchard|1979|p=3}} Shakespeare's mother, [[Mary Shakespeare|Mary Arden]], certainly came from a pious Catholic family. The strongest evidence might be a Catholic statement of faith signed by his father, [[John Shakespeare]], found in 1757 in the rafters of his former house in Henley Street. However, the document is now lost and scholars differ as to its authenticity.{{sfn|Wood|2003|pp=75–78}}{{sfn|Ackroyd|2006|pp=22–23}} In 1591, the authorities reported that John Shakespeare had missed church "for fear of process for debt", a common Catholic excuse.{{sfn|Wood|2003|p=78}}{{sfn|Ackroyd|2006|p=416}}{{sfn|Schoenbaum|1987|pp=41–42, 286}} In 1606, the name of William's daughter Susanna appears on a list of those who failed to attend Easter [[Eucharist|communion]] in Stratford.{{sfn|Wood|2003|p=78}}{{sfn|Ackroyd|2006|p=416}}{{sfn|Schoenbaum|1987|pp=41–42, 286}}

Other authors argue that there is a lack of evidence about Shakespeare's religious beliefs. Scholars find evidence both for and against Shakespeare's Catholicism, Protestantism, or lack of belief in his plays, but the truth may be impossible to prove.{{sfn|Wilson|2004|p=34}}{{sfn|Shapiro|2005|p=167}}