The Act of Toleration was a landmark piece of legislation enacted in England in 1689. It was designed to grant religious freedom to nonconformists, who were Protestant dissenters that were not members of the Church of England, such as Baptists, Quakers, and Presbyterians.
The Act allowed these groups to worship freely and established a degree of religious pluralism, while reaffirming the Church of England as the established state church. However, it did not extend full rights; nonconformists were still barred from holding public office and facing certain restrictions.
In addition to the Act of Toleration in England, similar acts were enacted in other parts of the British Isles, including the Act of Toleration of 1649 in Ireland, which also sought to protect various Protestant sects. The concept of toleration for different faiths laid important groundwork for modern ideas of religious freedom and pluralism.
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