ABSTRACT
The rejection of religion Organised religion was the engine-room of middle-class moral imperialism. As the core of the middle-class world view, religious belief provided the norms it was anxious to universalise, and can be identified in almost all its moral imperialism. At its heart, particularly in the early part of the period, was an interlocking group of institutions in which religion remained paramount: the churches and chapels, day and Sunday schools, and missionary organisations.
