The term heresy comes from the Greek haireisthai, which means “to choose.” It came to refer to the act of holding very unorthodox and/or unpopular religious opinions. Technically speaking, then, heresy is not so much the rejection of a religious authority as it is the rejection of a particular religious authority in favor of some other religious authority.
Read Article: Heresy as Intra-Religious Conflict
For this atheist, the name “Titus”, immediately…after reading ‘his’ quote…automatically ‘morphs’ into…
“Tight-ass”?
Tangentially…
I think this graphic sums up, rather well, so much regarding the unfortunate impact that Christianity has had on the history of the World:
http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs025.snc1/3125_84772931281_509491281_2886805_5327811_n.jpg
Also, for anyone interested, the BBC, on 11-7-09, aired a debate between Christopher Hitchens, Stephen Fry, and “The Catholics”…on the question: “Is the Catholic church a force for good in the world?”.
For starters, here’s Christopher Hitchens’ opening salvo (in Part 2 of 5):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFTj9n40rNo&feature=related
Of course, I suggest checking out all 5 parts to equitably(?) determine the ‘winner’…?
(I think you can guess this atheist’s vote.)
Oh…and…a question?…
Whom do think, in the debate, just MIGHT resemble a…
“Tight-ass”?
I would have to disagree with your statement that “no religions look kindly upon apostates,” if Buddhism is considered a religion, as many people seem to. In fact, the concept of apostasy really doesn’t exist in Buddhist society, and there really is no concept of “orthodoxy,” either, except in a very few Buddhist subgroups.
Unlike Christianity, no strong central authority developed in the Buddhist world. I think the reason it arose in Christianity was that a particular faction of Christians determined early on, perhaps as a result of the defeat of the Jews in the Jewish-Roman War ca. 70 CE, to forge a revolutionary political movement to take over the Roman authority, and this faction got control of the whole movement, expelling the Gnostics and others as heretics. (This, by the way, was the main reason for the Roman “persecution” of Christian “martyrs,” I think; the Romans were perfectly aware of the revolutionary character of the movement and reacted the way political authorities always react to revolutionaries.)