'"Is there a God? Let it be put to vote": The Atheism Crisis in 1640s England'

In the 1640s, a spectre was haunting England - the spectre of atheism. As well as being the last of the wars of religion, the English Civil War was the first war of irreligion. Both sides believed, in earnest, that their opponents were in effect denying God, and for many on the winning side, the need to escape the undertow which they themselves felt pulling them towards atheism was one of the factors driving them to adopt radical positions. This paper will use the fears of the Civil War era to open up some larger questions about the emotional history of doubt and unbelief in early modern England.

Alec Ryrie is Professor of the History of Christianity at Durham University and co-editor of the Journal of Ecclesiastical History. His books include Protestants: The Faith that Made the Modern World (due to be published April 2017), The Age of Reformation (2009, second edition 2017) and Being Protestant in Reformation Britain (2013). He is currently Visiting Professor in the History of Religion at Gresham College and a Leverhulme Major Research Fellow.