DISSENTER (

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• LAT

Lat. dis-sentire, to disagree)  , one who dissents or disagrees in matters of opinion, belief, &c . The term " dissenter is, however, practically restricted to the special sense of a member of a religious body in England which has, for one reason or another, separated from the Established Church . Strictly, the term includes the English Roman Catholics, who in the original draft of the Relief Act of 1791 were styled " Protesting Catholic Dissenters." It is in practice, however, restricted to the " Protestant Dissenters " referred to in sec. ii. of the Toleration Act of 1688 . The term is not applied to those bodies who dissent from the Established Church of Scotland ; and in speaking of members of religious bodies which have seceded from established churches abroad it is usual to employ the term " dissidents " (Lat. dissidere, to dissent) . In this connotation the terms " dissenter " and " dissenting," which had acquired a somewhat contemptuous flavour, have tended since the middle of the 19th century to be replaced by " nonconformist," a term which did not originally imply secession, but only refusal to conform in certain particulars (e.g. the wearing of the surplice) with the authorized usages of the Established Church . 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 place to the style of " Free Churches " and " Free Churchman." All three terms are now in use, "nonconformist" being the most usual, as it is the most colourless .