A non-conformist, in English history, is any member of a Protestant congregation not affiliated with the Church of England. The earliest non-conformist groups included Presbyterians, Independents (Congregationalists), Baptists, and Quakers. Later non-Conformists included Methodists and the Salvation Army.
The term has come to refer to any person who chooses not to conform to a set of beliefs or practices of a greater society.
If the issue is considered critical, such as loyalty to a nation or support for current laws, the non-conformist is often termed a "rebel" of a society and may be considered dangerous to maintaining social order. Unlike an anti-conformist, who chooses not to conform to society simply for the sake of not conforming, a non-conformist chooses to not conform to society because of differences in beliefs.
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the
"Non-conformist".
Home Page • arts • business • computers • games • health • hospitals • home • kids & teens • news • physicians • recreation• reference • regional • science • shopping • society • sports • world