Editing Nonconformist (Protestantism) (section)

====Impact on politics====
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|caption1=Methodist minister [[Hugh Price Hughes]] encouraged Nonconformists to support the [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal Party]]
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|caption2=Liberal prime minister [[David Lloyd George]] assiduously cultivated Nonconformist support
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Since 1660, Dissenters, later Nonconformists, have played a major role in English politics. In a political context, historians distinguish between two categories of Dissenters, in addition to the [[evangelical Anglicanism|evangelical]] element in the Church of England. "Old Dissenters", dating from the 16th and 17th centuries, included [[Baptists]], [[Congregational church|Congregationalists]], [[Quakers]], [[Unitarianism|Unitarians]], and [[Presbyterianism|Presbyterians]] outside Scotland. "New Dissenters" emerged in the 18th century and were mainly Methodists. The "[[Nonconformist conscience]]" was their moral sensibility which they tried to implement in British politics.<ref name="Bebbington">D. W. Bebbington, ''The Nonconformist Conscience: Chapel and Politics, 1870–1914'' (George Allen & Unwin, 1982).</ref> The "Nonconformist conscience" of the Old group emphasised [[religious freedom]] and equality, pursuit of justice, and opposition to discrimination, compulsion, and coercion. The New Dissenters (and also the Anglican evangelicals) stressed personal morality issues, including sexuality, family values, and [[temperance movement in the United Kingdom|temperance]]. Both factions were politically active, but until mid-19th century the Old group supported mostly [[Whigs (British political party)|Whigs]] and [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberals]] in politics, while the New, like most Anglicans, generally supported [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservatives]]. By the late 19th century, the New Dissenters had mostly switched to the Liberal Party. The result was a merging of the two groups, strengthening their great weight as a political pressure group.<ref>Timothy Larsen, "A Nonconformist Conscience? Free Churchmen in Parliament in Nineteenth-Century England". ''Parliamentary History'' 24#1 (2005): 107–119. {{doi|10.1111/j.1750-0206.2005.tb00405.x}}.</ref><ref name = "Helmstadter1979"/>{{rp|135–72}}

After the Test and Corporation Acts were [[Sacramental Test Act 1828|repealed in 1828]], all the Nonconformists elected to Parliament were Liberals.<ref name="Oxford" /> Relatively few MPs were Dissenters. However the Dissenters were major voting bloc in many areas, such as the East Midlands.<ref>Henry Pelling, ''Social Geography of British Elections, 1885–1910'' (1967) 89–90, 206,</ref> They were very well organised and highly motivated and largely won over the Whigs and Liberals to their cause. Gladstone brought the majority of Dissenters around to support for [[Irish Home Rule movement|Home Rule for Ireland]], putting the dissenting Protestants in league with the [[Irish Catholics]] in an otherwise unlikely alliance. The Nonconformist conscience was also repeatedly called upon by Gladstone for support for his moralistic foreign policy.<ref name="Bebbington"/> In election after election, Protestant ministers rallied their congregations to the Liberal ticket. (In Scotland, the Presbyterians played a similar role to the Nonconformist Methodists, Baptists and other groups in England and Wales.)<ref>David L. Wykes, "Introduction: Parliament and Dissent from the Restoration to the Twentieth Century", ''Parliamentary History'' (2005) 24#1 pp. 1–26. {{doi|10.1111/j.1750-0206.2005.tb00399.x}}.</ref> Many of the first MPs elected for the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] in the 1900s were also nonconformists.<ref>{{Citation |last=Thorpe |first=Andrew |title=Creation and Early Years, 1900–14 |date=1997 |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-25305-0_2 |work=A History of the British Labour Party |pages=20 |place=London |publisher=Macmillan Education UK |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-1-349-25305-0_2 |isbn=978-1-349-25305-0 |lccn=96031879 |oclc=1285556329 |access-date=2022-06-20}}</ref>

Nonconformists were angered by the [[Education Act 1902]], which provided for the support of [[denominational school]]s from taxes. The elected local [[School boards in England and Wales|school boards]] that they largely controlled were abolished and replaced by county-level [[local education authorities]] that were usually controlled by Anglicans. Worst of all the hated Anglican schools would now receive funding from local taxes that everyone had to pay. One tactic was to refuse to pay local taxes. [[John Clifford (minister)|John Clifford]] formed the [[National Passive Resistance Committee]]. By 1904 over 37,000 summonses for unpaid school taxes were issued, with thousands having their property seized and 80 protesters going to prison. It operated for another decade but had no impact on the school system.<ref>{{cite book|author=Donald Read|title=The age of urban democracy, England, 1868–1914|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uEcTAQAAIAAJ|year=1994|publisher=Longman|page=428|isbn=9780582089211}}</ref><ref>D. R. Pugh, "English Nonconformity, education and passive resistance 1903–6". ''History of Education'' 19#4 (1990): 355–373. {{doi|10.1080/0046760900190405}}.</ref><ref>N. R. Gullifer, "Opposition to the 1902 Education Act", ''Oxford Review of Education'' (1982) 8#1 pp. 83–98. {{doi|10.1080/0305498820080106}}. {{JSTOR|1050168}}.</ref> The education issue played a major role in the Liberal victory in the [[1906 United Kingdom general election|1906 general election]], as Dissenter Conservatives punished their old party and voted Liberal. After 1906, a Liberal attempt to modify the law was blocked by the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]]-dominated [[House of Lords]]; [[Parliament Act 1911|after 1911]] when the Lords had been stripped of its veto over legislation, the issue was no longer of high enough priority to produce Liberal action.<ref>Élie Halévy, ''The Rule of Democracy (1905–1914)'' (1956).  pp 64–90.</ref>

By 1914 the linkage between the Nonconformists and Liberal Party was weakening, as [[secularisation]] reduced the strength of Dissent in English political life.<ref>John F. Glaser, "English Nonconformity and the Decline of Liberalism". ''American Historical Review'' 63.2 (1958): 352–363. {{doi|10.1086/ahr/63.2.352}}. {{JSTOR|1849549}}.</ref>