Richard Congreve (4 September 1818 – 5 July 1899) was the first English philosopher to openly espouse the Religion of Humanity, the godless form of religious humanism that was introduced by Auguste Comte, as a distinct form of positivism. Congreve was the first thinker to offer a systematic policy, on positivist lines, to dismantle the British Empire. In 1859, after issuing controversial anti-imperialist pamphlets on Gibraltar and India, he delivered his 'first sermon' as a Positivist apostle and 'vicar' of the Religion of Humanity. He later founded the London Positivist Society in 1867 and, after a schism with his closest followers in 1878, he broke off to formally found the Comtist Church of Humanity.