:: That definition would cover the entire population of the United Kingdom at the time. That's part of the problem, of course. Everybody at Cambridge had to take Holy Orders in order to matriculate, did that make them Christians, do you think? And did being a Christian in the 17th Century have the same significance as it does now, given that in the 17th Century pretty much everybody was indoctrinated from birth? The reason this list is a POV nightmare is because it is essentially being used to pretend that large numbers of famous scientists are Christians, when in fact many of them simply never thought of being anything else.  (). Warning: comments may contain traces of sarcasm.