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Enactment of the Oaths Act 1888

When: 1888
Where: Parliament of the United Kingdom
Part of: Oaths Act allows MPs to affirm, confirming atheists can sit in the Commons

The Oaths Act 1888 allowed MPs to affirm oaths instead of swearing to God, confirming atheists could sit in the Commons.

The Act, cited as 51 & 52 Vict. c. 46, provided that all required oaths, including the oath of allegiance to the Sovereign, could be solemnly affirmed. This legislative change confirmed the ability of atheists to sit in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom.

Sources

Oaths Act 1888 Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-22
House of Commons of the United Kingdom Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-27

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.