When believing false things is comforting

[Belacqua]

From the little I have read of him just now, in terms of belief, he's closer to the typical atheist than he is to the typical Christian. He identifies as a Christian but it's a very nonconventional type of Christian. Reminds me of "Christian atheists" actually.

He spent a lot of time criticizing mainstream Christians of his time, often in the same terms that we use on this forum. Of course he thought they had completely forgotten Christ's real message. 

How "nonconventional" he was is an interesting topic. There was a long-lasting stream of British antinomianism in which he fits very nicely. Ranters, Diggers, Muggletonians. These people were always a bit underground, both because they didn't want trouble from authorities and because by definition antinomians eschew any kind of formal organization. 

Maybe it's best to say he was the last great exemplar of an ancient but non-mainstream Christianity that runs through Eriugena, some aspects of Cusanus, and certainly into the work of Lutheran mystic Jacob Boehme. 

In other words, every time some Christian-hater on this forum says "Christians believe X," it's almost certain that great Christians like Blake didn't believe X.

If he were posting on this forum, the regular posters would savage him, because of his views about the limitations of science, among other things.