Society and culture of the Victorian era
A growing number of Christians in England and Wales were not Anglicans, and nonconformists pushed for the disestablishment of the Church of England. Legal discrimination against nonconformists and Catholics was reduced. Secularism and doubts about the accuracy of the Old Testament grew among people with higher levels of education. Northern English and Scottish academics tended to be more religiously conservative, whilst agnosticism and even atheism (though its promotion was illegal) gained appeal among academics in the south. Historians refer to a "Victorian Crisis of Faith" as a period when religious views had to readjust to suit new scientific knowledge and criticism of the Bible.
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