Tercentenary of British Parliament leading the global development of freedom of religion by beginning repeal of the Test Acts
Charles Moore (Telegraph 24 August) rightly observes that universities should be as concerned about the Test Acts as they are about past complicity with slavery. The Test Acts excluded Catholics and Dissenters from education as well as certain professions and political office. Between 1719 and 1871 the British parliament abolished the various Test Acts beginning with the Schism Act which had excluded non-Anglicans from being school teachers and prohibited higher education establishments known as dissenting academies. In 1871 the Universities Test Act repealed laws requiring academics at Cambridge, Oxford and Durham to hold Anglican beliefs.
Although little remembered today it is hard to overstate the importance of repeal of the Test Acts as they marked the achievement of full freedom of religion in the UK and its spread across the world. Countries such as the USA and Australia, which branched off from Britain during or immediately after this period, wrote specific clauses into their constitutions prohibiting any future government from requiring assent to particular beliefs for those in public office.
This is a history that universities should carefully reflect on, not least in the light of current attempts on some campuses to censor students and outside speakers who dissent from politically correct orthodoxy or hold minority religious beliefs.
Dr Martin Parsons
Devizes, Wiltshire
Although little remembered today it is hard to overstate the importance of repeal of the Test Acts as they marked the achievement of full freedom of religion in the UK and its spread across the world. Countries such as the USA and Australia, which branched off from Britain during or immediately after this period, wrote specific clauses into their constitutions prohibiting any future government from requiring assent to particular beliefs for those in public office.
This is a history that universities should carefully reflect on, not least in the light of current attempts on some campuses to censor students and outside speakers who dissent from politically correct orthodoxy or hold minority religious beliefs.
Dr Martin Parsons
Devizes, Wiltshire
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