One who disagrees in matters of opinion, belief, practices etc
A
dissenter
(from the Latin
dissentire
, 'to disagree') is one who
dissents
(disagrees) in matters of opinion, belief, etc.
[1]
Dissent may include political opposition to decrees, ideas or doctrines and it may include opposition to those things or the fiat of a government, political party or religion.
Usage in Christianity
[
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]
Dissent from the Anglican Church
[
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]
In the social and religious history of
England
and
Wales
, and, by extension,
Ireland
, however, it refers particularly to a member of a religious body who has, for one reason or another, separated from the
established church
or any other kind of
Protestant
who refuses to recognise the supremacy of the established church in areas where the established church is or was
Anglican
.
[2]
[3]
Originally, the term included English and Welsh
Roman Catholics
[2]
whom the original draft of the
Nonconformist Relief Act 1779
styled "
Protesting Catholic Dissenters
". In practice, however, it designates Protestant Dissenters referred to in sec. ii. of the
Act of Toleration of 1689
(see
English Dissenters
).
[1]
The term
recusant
, in contrast, came to refer to Roman Catholics rather than Protestant dissenters.
Dissent from the Presbyterian Church
[
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]
The term has also been applied to those bodies who dissent from the Presbyterian
Church of Scotland
,
[1]
which is the national church of Scotland.
[4]
In this connotation, the terms
dissenter
and
dissenting
, which had acquired a somewhat contemptuous flavor, 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
), with the authorized usages of the established church.
[2]
[1]
Dissent from state religion
[
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]
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 way to the style of
free churches
and
free churchman
. All three terms continue in use,
nonconformist
being the most usual, as it is the most colourless.
[1]
See also
[
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]
Compare:
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the
public domain
:
Chisholm, Hugh
, ed. (1911). "
Dissenter
".
Encyclopædia Britannica
. Vol. 8 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 318.
- ^
a
b
c
Cross, F. L.; Livingstone, E. A., eds. (March 13, 1997),
The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church
(3rd ed.), USA: Oxford University Press, p. 490
.
- ^
Parker, Irene (2009).
Dissenting academies in England: their rise and progress, and their place among the educational systems of the country
. Cambridge University Press.
ISBN
978-0-521-74864-3
.
- ^
"A SHORT ACCOUNT OF THE OLD PRESBYTERIAN DISSENTERS"
. Archived from
the original
on 2015-08-13
. Retrieved
2015-09-13
.
External links
[
edit
]
- The dictionary definition of
dissent
at Wiktionary
- The dictionary definition of
dissenter
at Wiktionary