Voices for Tolerance
In an Age of Persecution

The most significant, and in some ways far reaching, voices for liberty of conscience and freedom of religion in the early modern period emerged in England during the Puritan Revolution (1640-1660). Though the three kingdoms of the British Isles-England, Scotland and Ireland- witnessed bitter political and military conflict, a struggle that ensued from the collapse of the absolutist rule and religious policies of Charles I, one of the byproducts was a vigorous and articulate debate on the principle of toleration. The Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658) attempted to bring about religious toleration for the persecuted Protestant sects. He also debated and granted informal toleration and readmission of the Jews into England; they had been formally expelled by royal edict in 1290.