The link between blasphemy and sedition was real and occasioned genuine alarm. But government over-reaction should not lead us to exaggerate the extent of the connexion. As well as numerous conservative infidels, many radicals were men of religious conviction, as the career of John Cartwright illustrated. The complexity of the link between blasphemy, faith and political radicalism is perhaps best illustrated by the case of the bookseller and publisher, William Hone.

The case study of Paley concerned a man who significantly changed the development of Christian thought. That of Horsley examined a typical figure of the establishment and demonstrated the unity and synthesis of the body of ideas in which a change of emphasis took place. This study of William Hone does neither of these things; instead it is offered as a cautionary tale. The analysis of the role of religion in political thought in the post-revolutionary period presented above may suggest a greater degree of polarisation than was the case. Chapter 13 examined the conflict between the Anglican and Dissenting churches to be the major agent of social control, while Chapter 14 looked at the links between blasphemy and sedition. This may appear to confirm the contemporary assumption of links between religion and repression on the one side, and of infidelity and revolution on the other. To a considerable extent those links did exist, but they should not be exaggerated. Because of his radical political views it was presumed at the time, and is still assumed by many historians, that William Hone was an infidel.