Editing John Russell, 1st Earl Russell (section)

=== Religious views ===
Russell was religious in a simple non-dogmatic way and supported "[[broad church]]" stances in the Church of England. He opposed the "[[Oxford Movement]]" because its "Tractarian" members were too dogmatic and too close to [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholicism]]. He supported Broad Churchmen or Latitudinarians by several appointments of liberal churchmen as bishops. In 1859 he reversed himself and decided to free non-Anglicans of the duty of paying rates (taxes) to the local Anglican parish. His political clumsiness and opposition to Church finance made him a target of attack and ridicule in many Church circles.{{sfn|Nikol|1974|pp=341–357}}{{sfn|Ellens|1987|pp=232–249}}{{sfn|Chadwick|1966|pp=129, 146, 479}}