“Address Delivered at the Annual Congress of the Association of all Classes of all Nations, Held in Manchester, from the 10th to the 30th of May, 1837”, In Six Lectures Delivered in Manchester Previously to the Discussion Between Mr. Robert Owen and the Rev. J.H. Roebuck (Manchester: A. Heywood, 1837), 102–112

Robert Owen’s distrust of organised religion was one of the most infamous tenets of early socialism in Britain. By the mid-1830s, following Owen’s vocal rejection of the marriage institution, tensions with the various churches in the country had reached an all-time high. In religion, morals, politics, commerce, and social relations and practices, every conceivable anomaly and absurdity is gravely taught and practised. From these anomalies and absurdities, wisdom and happiness are continually promised by the teachers, and expected by the taught, but, of course, can never be realised. It is difficult to determine which of the erroneous systems now prevailing in society, is the most injurious. For, the religions of the world are, alone, sufficient to divide man from man, to destroy his health, and derange his faculties. The commerce of the world is, alone, sufficient to divide man from man, to destroy his health, and to derange his faculties.