In 19th century Europe, the conditions of the poor in the cities were of much concern as they went through a period of rapid industrialisation and urbanisation. Novelist, Charles Dickens often unveiled the faults of the 19th century in his works, as did Edwin Chadwick and Henry Mayhew in their work.

The 19th century is often considered a very pious age, however, it was actually a period of doubt and loss of faith for many thoughtful people. General ideals and beliefs of the era were already changing by the early 19th century. Many churches in America and England were very liberal. For example, they rejected the doctrine of Hell, or who were, like the Unitarians, deists. Amongst the urban working class, there was a widespread non-attendance at church that Sunday. A survey carried out in March 1851 shows that in out of the total 17,927609 population of England and Wales, only 7,261,032 had attended church that Sunday. Moral philosophy became increasingly detached from religion. A “Utilitarian” definition of and basis for goodness was developed by Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill. Judeo-Christianity morality was attacked by Friedrich Nietzsche while William James, an American psychologist, contemplated …show more content…
However, some were still persecuted. Journalist and radical reformer, Richard Carlile (1790-1843), was imprisoned multiple times for the printing the work of Thomas Paine’s and other political matters. In 1842, G.J Holyoake was tried and imprisoned for atheism while in 1883; G.W Foote was imprisoned for blasphemy. Rights for atheists and people against religious privilege in society were campaigned throughout Britain through anti-religious and secularist organisations. Similar issues were raised in the USA by polemicists (a person skilled or involved with the practice or theological controversy to refute errors of doctrine) such as Robert G