A Nicodemite (/ˌnɪkəˈdiːmaɪt/) is a person suspected of publicly misrepresenting their religious faith to conceal their true beliefs. The term is sometimes defined as referring to a Protestant Christian who lived in a Roman Catholic country and escaped persecution by concealing their Protestantism. In England during the 17th and 18th centuries the term was often applied to those suspected of secret Socinian, Arianist, or proto-Deist beliefs.