Nicodemite

A Nicodemite (/ˌnɪkəˈdiːmaɪt/)[1] is a person suspected of publicly misrepresenting their religious faith to conceal their true beliefs.

[2][3] 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.

Originally employed mostly by Protestants, it was usually applied to persons of publicly conservative religious position and practice who were thought to be secretly humanistic or reformed.

In England during the 17th and 18th centuries the term was often applied to those suspected of secret Socinian, Arian, or Deist beliefs.

[7] Since the French monarchy had increased its prosecution of heresy with the Edict of Fontainebleau (1540), it had become more dangerous to profess dissident beliefs publicly, so refuge was sought in emulating the disciple Nicodemus.