History UsefulNotes / HeresiesAndHeretics

** A ''very'' famous example was given to the world in the teachings of Arius, who effectively used orthodox language to teach that Jesus was not divine, but a creature made by God. When Constantine legalized Christianity, one of the first things done by the leaders of the Church to define and formalize what the belief system of Christianity actually held -- Arius, who famously was [[LoveItOrHateIt supported by many bishops and excommunicated by others]], gave an explanation of his beliefs to the Council of Nicaea in 325 and was solemnly condemned[[labelnote:*]]Legend has it that a certain [[SantaClaus St. Nicholas]] was [[SecretCharacter also present]] at the council, and became so [[BerserkButton angry at Arius' teaching]] that he ''punched the man out''. St. Nicholas is not included in the official registry of bishops present, but that only [[ConspiracyTheory adds to the fun]].[[/labelnote]]; the Council of Nicaea formally proclaimed the divinity of Jesus Christ. Arianism was also an issue at the First Council of Constantinople in 381, where the divinity of the Holy Spirit was also declared. Hints of Arianism, or less specifically, non-trinitarianism is still extant modern day Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormonism.

*** Augustine later refuted Pelagianism, but attempts to reconcile these contradictions led to a belief called "Semi-Pelagianism"... which ultimately landed in the same boat as its predecessor, as it still held God's grace was not necessary for purposes of salvation (not to mention several other tenets), plus, while human effort alone could not ''merit'' the gift of God's grace, it could make some small claim on its receipt.

** Monophysitism was largely concurrent with Nestorianism, mainly because it was a [[TheNewRockAndRoll a powerful reaction to and rejection of it]]. Horrified by the implications of two Christs running around, the monophysites basically leapfrogged themselves to the other end of the spectrum, claiming Jesus had only ''one'' nature[[note]]Greek: ''mono'' = one; ''physis'' = nature[[/note]], part divine and part human, something akin to a [[ClassicalMythology demigod]]. This was likewise rejected on the grounds that, if Jesus was not fully human, he could not fully participate in and thus represent humanity, and if he was not fully divine, he could not fully participate in and thus represent {{God}}; in short, since he was neither truly God or truly Man, he could not join the two, and thus he could not fix the problem of Original Sin (see above), and humanity was still basically screwed.[[note]]Yes, the Catholic Church's official position is that Christ is ''both'' completely God and completely Man. Yes, it understands the ramifications of nailing Him to a cross to die.[[/note]] the modern day Oriental Orthodox church still affirms Miaphysitism, a moderate form of Monophysitism.
** Iconoclasm ("icon smashing") first showed up in the 7th and 8th centuries claiming it was sinful to make pictures or statues of Christ and the saints, despite [[Literature/TheBible God commanding]] the creation of religious statues (Ex. 25:18–20; 1 Chr. 28:18–19), including symbolic representations of Christ (cf. Num. 21:8–9 w/ John 3:14). Was originally inspired by the Muslim's blanket ban on representational art and the Old Testament's emphasis against idolatry. Showed up briefly in the initial stages of the Protestant Reformation mostly as a push back against the perceived decadence of the Catholics, but largely disappeared over the years--the only noticeable remnant being most Protestants' tendency to wear a bare cross instead of a Crucifix.

*** One of the largest Catharist sects was that of the Albigensians, who held the spirit was created by the good God, but imprisoned by the evil one in a physical body. Hence, the bearing of children -- the imprisoning of another human soul in a body -- was one of the greatest possible evils; logically, marriage was forbidden, but anal sex may be technically permissible. There were plenty of fasts that bordered on willful starvation and lots of severe mortification was practiced; leaders went about in voluntary poverty.

*** Instead of human beings being ontologically good creatures in and of themselves, they are spiritual creatures trapped in material form by the Demiurge.[[hottip:*:[[StarWars Luminous beings are we! Not this crude matter!]]

** Pelagianism was a 5th century heresy taught by, well, Pelagius, that declared humans morally neutral at birth, and a human's righteousness or sinfulness was the result of the goodness or badness of the people around them, though goodness was defined as imitating the example of Christ. Pelagius denied the doctrine of Original Sin[[hottip:*:When the first human couple disobeyed God's will (the given story is about Adam, Eve, and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil), they were wholly cut off from the grace of God, and in so doing cut off any children they would have... which means all of us.]], which, when coupled with Pelagian teaching that Man could reach God under his own power, denied any functional role to God's grace in human nature outside of making holiness easier.

** Nestorianism, the teachings of Nestorius (there are several of these that share their author's name), and another 5th century issue, to boot, holds that the Virgin Mary was ''not'' in fact, the Mother of God[[hottip:*:''Theotokos'' in the original Greek, which literally means "God-Bearer"]], and only bore Christ's human nature in her womb[[hottip:*:Nestorius proposed ''Christotokos'' as a useful term, "Christ-bearer" or "Mother of Christ".]] A lot of people quickly recognized that this left ''two'' Jesuses running around, one man-of-woman-born and one divine, connected via some sort of [[SharingABody loosely-defined union]]. The Council of Ephesus in ''431'' declared that it was indeed legitimate to refer to Mary as ''Theotokos'', not because she predated or generated God, but because she bore God ''[[GodInHumanForm incarnate]]''.

** Monophysitism was largely concurrent with Nestorianism, mainly because it was a [[TheNewRockAndRoll a powerful reaction to and rejection of it]]. Horrified by the implications of two Christs running around, the monophysites basically leapfrogged themselves to the other end of the spectrum, claiming Jesus had only ''one'' nature[[hottip:*:Greek: ''mono'' = one; ''physis'' = nature]], part divine and part human, something akin to a [[ClassicalMythology demigod]]. This was likewise rejected on the grounds that, if Jesus was not fully human, he could not fully participate in and thus represent humanity, and if he was not fully divine, he could not fully participate in and thus represent {{God}}; in short, since he was neither truly God or truly Man, he could not join the two, and thus he could not fix the problem of Original Sin (see above), and humanity was still basically screwed.[[hottip:*:Yes, the Catholic Church's official position is that Christ is ''both'' completely God and completely Man. Yes, it understands the ramifications of nailing Him to a cross to die.]] the modern day Oriental Orthodox church still affirms Miaphysitism, a moderate form of Monophysitism.

** In Galileo's day, heliocentrism was actually gaining considerable consideration when considering the motion of the stars from an earthly perspective. A Catholic monk named Nicolaus Copernicus (for whom is named "The Copernican Revolution") famously brought heliocentrism into vogue. He wrote a long text on the subject, ''On the Revolution of the Celestial Orbs'', but put it into the care of a Protestant friend to be published after his death. (The book, which contains an excellent account of heliocentricity, was dedicated to Pope Paul III). The friend, a Lutheran clergyman named Andreas Osiander, anticipated the massive ramifications this theory had for Protestant scriptural interpretation (Martin Luther seemed to condemn the new theory[[hottip:*:Luther calling Copernicus an "upstart astrologer" probably didn't help.]]) and, the likelihood that it might be condemned; to counter this, Osiander prefaced the book with the claim that the descriptions within were theoretical only, and were only employed to simplify computations... something Copernicus never intended.

** It is commonly assumed that Galileo ''proved'' heliocentrism -- he didn't. Proponents of heliocentrism were unable to counter the strongest argument against it, which had been proposed by ''Aristotle himself'' -- if heliocentrism were true, there should be observable parallax shifts in the position of the stars as the earth moved. Now, there ''are'' observable parallax shifts, but the technology to demonstrate that hadn't been developed until ''after Galileo's death'' [[hottip:*:The distance between the stars is several light-years, very large in comparison to Earth's orbit, with a diameter of about 16.6 light-'''minutes''']]. Until that point, the evidence suggested that the stars' positions were fixed relative to the earth; and thus, only the sun, moon, and other planets were moving; Copernicus's (correct) excuse that the stars were too far away to exhibit visible parallax was not accepted, even by non-geocentrists like Tycho Brahe.

* Islam has very strict definition of what its followers should and shouldn't do, and practices that can't be traced into the Prophet himself[[hottip:*:Or at least, that which goes against the spirit of Islam -- there were no Internet in his time, but that doesn't make Internet forbidden]] are regarded as heretical, such practices are known as ''bid'ah''.

* Origen, a Christian mystic, was accused of Heresy for some of his ideas deemed "too platonic [[http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf214.xii.ix.html for various reasons.]] Despite popular belief, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_reconciliation Universal Redemption]] was not one of said reasons.

* Joan of Arc was also examined for any possible heretical beliefs. (She got [[BurnTheWitch burned]] on a technicality, dressing as a man.) The real reason being her helping the future Charles VII repel the English in the HundredYearsWar.

** Monophysitism was largely concurrent with Nestorianism, mainly because it was a [[TheNewRockAndRoll a powerful reaction to and rejection of it]]. Horrified by the implications of two Christs running around, the monophysites basically leapfrogged themselves to the other end of the spectrum, claiming Jesus had only ''one'' nature[[hottip:*:Greek: ''mono'' = one; ''physis'' = nature]], part divine and part human, something akin to a [[ClassicalMythology demigod]]. This was likewise rejected on the grounds that, if Jesus was not fully human, he could not fully participate in and thus represent humanity, and if he was not fully divine, he could not fully participate in and thus represent {{God}}; in short, since he was neither truly God or truly Man, he could not join the two, and thus he could not fix the problem of Original Sin (see above), and humanity was still basically screwed.[[hottip:*:Yes, the Catholic Church's official position is that Christ is ''both'' completely God and completely Man. Yes, it understands [[DivideByZero the ramifications of nailing Him to a cross to die]].]] the modern day Oriental Orthodox church still affirms Miaphysitism, a moderate form of Monophysitism.

** It is commonly assumed that Galileo ''proved'' heliocentrism -- he didn't. Proponents of heliocentrism were unable to counter the strongest argument against it, which had been proposed by ''Aristotle himself'' -- if heliocentrism were true, there should be observable parallax shifts in the position of the stars as the earth moved. Now, there ''are'' observable parallax shifts, but the technology to demonstrate that hadn't been developed until ''after Galileo's death'' Until that point, the evidence suggested that the stars' positions were fixed relative to the earth; and thus, only the sun, moon, and other planets were moving; Copernicus's (correct) excuse that the stars were too far away to exhibit visible parallax was not accepted, even by non-geocentrists like Tycho Brahe.

** Sunni and Shi'a Muslims regard each other as heretics. Comparison can be drawn between Catholicism and the Eastern Orthodox Church, who has been in mutual excommunications since, like, forever. [[RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment Let's leave it at that]].

* Origen, a Christian mystic, was accused of Heresy for believing in [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_redemption Universal Redemption]].
** Which is actually false. He is still regard a church father (though not a saint) [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origen#Origen.27s_influence_on_the_later_church in most of mainstream christainity.]] Universal Redemption was a widely accepted doctrine taught by many saints and church fathers at the time (including his teacher [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clement_of_Alexandria St. Clement of Alexandria]]). The real reason was that about 2 centuries later some of his ideas (deemed "too platonic" were condemned [[http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf214.xii.ix.html by the church]] for various reason, but universal redemption was not one of them.

* And finally, all three of the Abrahamic religions "tolerate" (or not) each other to various degrees, they only thing they can agree on being their mutual distaste of polytheism. '''[[RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment Let's leave it at that]]'''.

Section not finished yet.

[[folder:Heresies according to the Catholic Church]]

[[folder: The Gallileo Affair]]

** A ''very'' famous example was given to the world in the teachings of Arius, who effectively used orthodox language to teach that Jesus was not divine, but a creature made by God. When Constantine legalized Christianity, one of the first things done by the leaders of the Church to define and formalize what the belief system of Christianity actually held -- Arius, who famously was [[LoveItOrHateIt supported by many bishops and excommunicated by others]], gave an explanation of his beliefs to the Council of Nicaea in 325 and was solemnly condemned[[labelnote:*]]Legend has it that a certain [[SantaClaus St. Nicholas]] was [[SecretCharacter also present]] at the council, and became so [[BerserkButton angry at Arius' teaching]] that he ''punched the man out''. St. Nicholas is not included in the official registry of bishops present, but that only [[ConspiracyTheory adds to the fun]].[[/labelnote]]; the Council of Nicaea formally proclaimed the divinity of Jesus Christ. Arianism was also an issue at the First Council of Constantinople in 381, where the divinity of the Holy Spirit was also declared.

** Monophysitism was largely concurrent with Nestorianism, mainly because it was a [[TheNewRockAndRoll a powerful reaction to and rejection of it]]. Horrified by the implications of two Christs running around, the monophysites basically leapfrogged themselves to the other end of the spectrum, claiming Jesus had only ''one'' nature[[hottip:*:Greek: ''mono'' = one; ''physis'' = nature]], part divine and part human, something akin to a [[ClassicalMythology demigod]]. This was likewise rejected on the grounds that, if Jesus was not fully human, he could not fully participate in and thus represent humanity, and if he was not fully divine, he could not fully participate in and thus represent {{God}}; in short, since he was neither truly God or truly Man, he could not join the two, and thus he could not fix the problem of Original Sin (see above), and humanity was still basically screwed.[[hottip:*:Yes, the Catholic Church's official position is that Christ is ''both'' completely God and completely Man. Yes, it understands [[DivideByZero the ramifications of nailing Him to a cross to die]].]]
** Iconoclasm ("icon smashing") first showed up in the 7th and 8th centuries claiming it was sinful to make pictures or statues of Christ and the saints, despite [[Literature/TheBible God commanding]] the creation of religious statues (Ex. 25:18–20; 1 Chr. 28:18–19), including symbolic representations of Christ (cf. Num. 21:8–9 w/ John 3:14). Showed up briefly in the initial stages of the Protestant Reformation, but largely disappeared over the years.

*** One of the largest Catharist sects was that of the Albigensians, who held the spirit was created by the good God, but imprisoned by the evil one in a physical body. Hence, the bearing of children -- the imprisoning of another human soul in a body -- was one of the greatest possible evils; logically, marriage was forbidden... not so logically, fornication was not. There were plenty of fasts that bordered on willful starvation and lots of severe mortification was practiced; leaders went about in voluntary poverty.
** [[UsefulNotes/{{Christianity}} Protestantism]]: You've probably heard something about a Reformation in the 16th century, in which thousands of Christians broke with the Catholic Church. Protestantism is not a specific doctrine or belief-set but rather an umbrella term for thousands of different theological divisions (which can generally be un-splintered into less than two dozen religious "traditions"), that share doctrines of ''Sola Scriptura'' (theology should be formed solely by consideration of scripture) and ''Sola Fide'' (human beings are justified "by faith alone")[[labelnote:*]]Centuries of poor definitions and raised tempers led this to be a major point of contention between Catholics and Protestants, who argue over what role "work" has in human entry into heaven; the assumption was that Catholic emphasis on placing "work" besides "faith" led to an overemphasis on the role of human action similar to Pelagianism, which was rejected long ago -- [[NotSoDifferent it turns out that]] in the Protestant definition of "faith", human participation in God's will is part and parcel of the consideration, whereas Catholics refer to "faith" as something along the lines of mere intellectual belief. In short, there's really not much of a difference along those lines, as exhibited when the Catholic Church and a number of Lutheran "bishops" signed a joint declaration of faith several years ago.[[/labelnote]]. The great diversity of Protestantism has two primary roots: a general distrust for authority and the "doctrine" of private judgment, the latter of which denies the Church its claim to the infallible right to interpret Scripture, and indeed pits the Church ''against'' Scripture.

* "Galileo was famously tried before a court for an issue regarding the veracity of heliocentrism" is about as neutral as the popcultural understanding of the actual sequence of events is likely to get; most people seem to think Galileo was declared a heretic. Let's start with the context:
** In Galileo's day, heliocentrism was actually gaining considerable consideration when considering the motion of the stars from an earthly perspective. A Catholic monk named Nicolaus Copernicus (for whom is named "The Copernican Revolution") famously brought heliocentrism into vogue. He wrote a long text on the subject, ''On the Revolution of the Celestial Orbs'', but put it into the care of a Protestant friend to be published after his death. (The book, which contains an excellent account of heliocentricity, was dedicated to Pope Paul III). The friend, a Lutheran clergyman named Andreas Osiander, anticipated the massive ramifications this theory had for Protestant scriptural interpretation (Martin Luther seemed to condemn the new theory[[hottip:*:Luther calling Copernicus an "upstart astrologer" probably didn't help.]]) and, the likelihood that it might be condemned; to counter this, Osiander prefaced the book with the claim that the descriptions within were theoretical only, and meant to account for the motion of the planets more simply than geocentric models... something Copernicus never intended.

** It is commonly assumed that Galileo ''proved'' heliocentrism -- he didn't. Proponents of heliocentrism were unable to counter the strongest argument against it, which had been proposed by ''Aristotle himself'' -- if heliocentrism were true, there should be observable parallax shifts in the position of the stars as the earth moved. Now, there ''are'' observable parallax shifts, but the technology to demonstrate that hadn't been developed until ''after Galileo's death''. Until that point, the evidence suggested that the stars' positions were fixed relative to the earth; and thus, only the sun, moon, and other planets were.
** Galileo's attempts at proof relied on "sensible demonstrations" that he claimed were present in Copernicus' work; they weren't exactly forthcoming. Also, the great distance the Copernican theory required was not accepted by many critics, such as another famous astronomer named Tycho Brahe, who didn't fully adopt Copernicus. However, even so, Galileo could very well have continued to propose heliocentrism as a ''theory'' on scientific grounds... which he didn't.
** Galileo not only refused to present his version of heliocentrism as theory, he insisted on taking his "factual" understanding of the universe onto theological grounds, and began insisting Scripture be reinterpreted to suit the theory he couldn't prove (if you haven't caught on, people are touchy about their religion; Galileo really wasn't helping himself); so a non-theologian was essentially going around telling theologians they ''must'' take Scripture in a certain sense. In 1616, he appeared before Pope Paul V; the pope, weary of controversy, turned things over to the Holy Office, which condemned the theory. Later, Galileo made a request of a friend - Cardinal Robert Bellarmine, a Jesuit; he was granted a certificate that allowed him not to hold or defend heliocentrism, [[LoopholeAbuse but to conjecture it]]. Later, he met with another pope (and a personal friend), Urban VIII, in 1623; he was granted permission to write on the subject, but was cautioned not to advocate it, instead presenting the arguments for or against it. [[RunningGag Not happening]]. What Galileo actually wrote (in the form of a dialogue) was clearly in favor of heliocentrism, and the arguments against it -- including the one offered by his friend the pope -- were placed in the mouth of the character named "Simplicio" (i.e. "Idiot"), who was a debater of obviously inferior intelligence and status than the one arguing heliocentricism.
** Having publicly mocked his friend and necessary benefactor, alienating the Jesuits to boot with attacks on one of their astronomers, Galileo's actions resulted in the famous trial. While he eventually recanted his teachings, he was not tortured; he was actually merely placed under house arrest... and given a manservant. Indeed, ''The Directory For Inquisitors'' (1595) lays down regulations that prevented torture instruments from being used in the circumstances. Galileo was not explicitly declared a heretic, though he was found to be "''vehemently suspect''" of it; the testimony from his trial (Galileo was tried before an ordinary tribunal) was brought before a group of ten cardinals. Three of them refused to sign his verdict, but his works were eventually condemned.
** To keep it short, the Church of Galileo’s day issued a [[ThePope non-infallible]] disciplinary ruling concerning a scientist who was advocating a new and still-unproved theory and demanding that the Church change its understanding of Scripture to fit his. However, it is perhaps just as well, considering both parties were partly right and partly wrong; accepting Galileo's theories would have the Church declaring the sun was the fixed center of the universe as Galileo had. However, the Catholic Church acknowledges its mistake, and has for some time. In 1741, Pope Benedict XIV granted an imprimatur to the first edition of the complete works of Galileo. In 1757, a new edition of the Index of Forbidden Books allowed works that supported the Copernican theory, as science had reached the point where the theory could be proven. Pope John Paul II famously apologized for the fiasco, but there was a second, less well-publicized apology issues about a century earlier; also, the Church has [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking published two stamps in his honor]].
* Joan of Arc was also examined for any possible heretical beliefs. (She got [[BurnTheWitch burned]] on a technicality, dressing as a man.)

** And finally, other Abrahamic religions are regarded as heresy in Islam because supposedly, God designates Islam as the only religion in the world, rendering the other Abrahamic religions obsolete with the coming of Qur'an. '''[[RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment Let's leave it at that]]'''.

** An early, [[TheBible biblical example]]: "But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brethren, ‘Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.’" -Acts 15:1

** Iconoclasm ("icon smashing") first showed up in the 7th and 8th centuries claiming it was sinful to make pictures or statues of Christ and the saints, despite [[TheBible God commanding]] the creation of religious statues (Ex. 25:18–20; 1 Chr. 28:18–19), including symbolic representations of Christ (cf. Num. 21:8–9 w/ John 3:14). Showed up briefly in the initial stages of the Protestant Reformation, but largely disappeared over the years.

** Which is actually false. He is still regard a church father (though not a saint) [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origen#Origen.27s_influence_on_the_later_church in most of mainstream christainity.]] Universal Redemption was a widely accepted doctrine taught by many saints and church fathers at the time (including his teacher [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clement_of_Alexandria St. Clement of Alexandria]]). The real reason was that about 2 centuries later some of his ideas (deemed "too platonic" were condemned [[http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf214.xii.ix.html by the church]] for various reason, but universal redemption was not one of them.

** [[UsefulNotes/{{Christianity}} Protestantism]]: You've probably heard something about a Reformation in the 16th century, in which thousands of Christians broke with the Catholic Church. Protestantism is not a specific doctrine or belief-set but rather an umbrella term for thousands of different theological divisions (which can generally be un-splintered into less than two dozen religious "traditions"), that share doctrines of ''Sola Scriptura'' (theology should be formed solely by consideration of scripture) and ''Sola Fide''[[labelnote:*]]Human beings are justified "by faith alone" -- centuries of poor definitions and raised tempers led this to be a major point of contention between Catholics and Protestants, who argue over what role "work" has in human entry into heaven; the assumption was that Catholic emphasis on placing "work" besides "faith" led to an overemphasis on the role of human action similar to Pelagianism, which was rejected long ago -- [[NotSoDifferent it turns out that]] in the Protestant definition of "faith", human participation in God's will is part and parcel of the consideration, whereas Catholics refer to "faith" as something along the lines of mere intellectual belief. In short, there's really not much of a difference along those lines, as exhibited when the Catholic Church and a number of Lutheran "bishops" signed a joint declaration of faith several years ago.[[/labelnote]]. The great diversity of Protestantism has two primary roots: a general distrust for authority and the "doctrine" of private judgment, the latter of which denies the Church its claim to the infallible right to interpret Scripture, and indeed pits the Church ''against'' Scripture.

** [[UsefulNotes/{{Christianity}} Protestantism]]: You've probably heard something about a Reformation in the 16th century, in which thousands of Christians broke with the Catholic Church. Protestantism is not a specific doctrine or belief-set but rather an umbrella term for thousands of different theological divisions (which can generally be un-splintered into less than two dozen religious "traditions"), that share doctrines of ''Sola Scriptura'' (theology should be formed solely by consideration of scripture) and ''Sola Fide''[[hottip:*:Human beings are justified "by faith alone" -- centuries of poor definitions and raised tempers led this to be a major point of contention between Catholics and Protestants, who argue over what role "work" has in human entry into heaven; the assumption was that Catholic emphasis on placing "work" besides "faith" led to an overemphasis on the role of human action similar to Pelagianism, which was rejected long ago -- [[NotSoDifferent it turns out that]] in the Protestant definition of "faith", human participation in God's will is part and parcel of the consideration, whereas Catholics refer to "faith" as something along the lines of mere intellectual belief. In short, there's really not much of a difference along those lines, as exhibited when the Catholic Church and a number of Lutheran "bishops" signed a joint declaration of faith several years ago.]]. The great diversity of Protestantism has two primary roots: a general distrust for authority and the "doctrine" of private judgment, the latter of which denies the Church its claim to the infallible right to interpret Scripture, and indeed pits the Church ''against'' Scripture.

** A ''very'' famous example was given to the world in the teachings of Arius, who effectively used orthodox language to teach that Jesus was not divine, but a creature made by God. When Constantine legalized Christianity, one of the first things done by the leaders of the Church to define and formalize what the belief system of Christianity actually held -- Arius, who famously was [[LoveItOrHateIt supported by many bishops and excommunicated by others]], gave an explanation of his beliefs to the Council of Nicaea in 325 and was solemnly condemned[[hottip:*:Legend has it that a certain [[SantaClaus St. Nicholas]] was [[SecretCharacter also present]] at the council, and became so [[BerserkButton angry at Arius' teaching]] that he ''punched the man out''. St. Nicholas is not included in the official registry of bishops present, but that only [[ConspiracyTheory adds to the fun]].]]; the Council of Nicaea formally proclaimed the divinity of Jesus Christ. Arianism was also an issue at the First Council of Constantinople in 381, where the divinity of the Holy Spirit was also declared.

* Islam has very strict definition of what its followers should and shouldn't do, and practices that can't be traced into the Prophet himself[[hottip:*:Or at least that which goes against the spirit of Islam-- there were no internet in his time, but that doesn't make internet forbidden]] are regarded as heretical, such practices are known as ''bid'ah''.
** Ahmadiyyah. Its followers believe that the aforementioned Ahmad is also a Prophet, which goes against the role of Muhammad as the final prophet bringing final scripture. Numerous conflicts, some of which violent, have happened between Ahmadiyyah and the more mainstream Muslims. It doesn't help that it originated during British Colonial era and the early followers had ties with the Colonial authority-- the present headquarter of Ahmadiyyah is in the UK.
** Sufism. A rather loose term for sects than puts more emphasis in the spiritual experience and, usually, less strict with religious laws. It might have been influenced by Hindu mysticism, and Sufi imams have considerably greater influnce on their followers than the mainstream imams. Reactions from mainstream Muslims varies between "let those eccentrics be" to "those are pseudo-Islam, exterminate them".
** Sunni and Shi'a regards each others as heretics. Comparison can be drawn between Catholicism and Orthodox, who has been in mutual excommunications since, like, forever. [[RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment Let's leave it at that]].
** And finally, other Abrahamic religions are regarded as heresy in Islam because supposedly God designate Islam as the only religion in the world, rendering the other Abrahamic religions obsolete with the coming of Qur'an. '''[[RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment Let's leave it at that]]'''.

*** Instead of human beings being ontologically good creatures in and of themselves, they are spiritual creatures trapped in material form by the Demiurge.[[hottip:*:[[StarWars Luminous beings are we! Not this crude matter!]]]]

** [[UsefulNotes/{{Gnosticism}} Gnostic]] interpretation of Jesus' teachings were declared heretical, and Gnosticism in general also counts for:

** [[UsefulNotes/{{Christianity}} Protestantism]]: You've probably heard something about a Reformation in the 16th century, in which thousands of Christians broke with the Catholic Church. Protestantism is not a specific doctrine or belief-set but rather an umbrella term for thousands of different theological divisions (which can generally be un-splintered into less than two dozen religious "traditions"), that share doctrines of ''Sola Scriptura'' (theology should be formed solely by consideration of scripture) and ''Sola Fide''[[hottip:*:Human beings are justified "by faith alone" -- centuries of poor definitions and [[{{Understatement}} raised tempers]] led this to be a major point of contention between Catholics and Protestants, who argue over what role "work" has in human entry into heaven; the assumption was that Catholic emphasis on placing "work" besides "faith" led to an overemphasis on the role of human action similar to Pelagianism, which was rejected long ago -- [[NotSoDifferent it turns out that]] in the Protestant definition of "faith", human participation in God's will is part and parcel of the consideration, whereas Catholics refer to "faith" as something along the lines of mere intellectual belief. In short, there's really not much of a difference along those lines, as exhibited when the Catholic Church and a number of Lutheran "bishops" signed a joint declaration of faith several years ago.]]. The great diversity of Protestantism has two primary roots: a general distrust for authority and the "doctrine" of private judgment, the latter of which denies the Church its claim to the infallible right to interpret Scripture, and indeed pits the Church ''against'' Scripture.

** Galileo not only refused to present his version of heliocentrism as theory, he insisted on taking his "factual" understanding of the universe onto theological grounds, and began insisting Scripture be reinterpreted to suit the theory he couldn't prove (if you haven't caught on, people are [[{{Understatement}} touchy]] about their religion; Galileo really wasn't helping himself); so a non-theologian was essentially going around telling theologians they ''must'' take Scripture in a certain sense. In 1616, he appeared before Pope Paul V; the pope, weary of controversy, turned things over to the Holy Office, which condemned the theory. Later, Galileo made a request of a friend - Cardinal Robert Bellarmine, a Jesuit; he was granted a certificate that allowed him not to hold or defend heliocentrism, [[LoopholeAbuse but to conjecture it]]. Later, he met with another pope (and a personal friend), Urban VIII, in 1623; he was granted permission to write on the subject, but was cautioned not to advocate it, instead presenting the arguments for or against it. [[RunningGag Not happening]]. What Galileo actually wrote (in the form of a dialogue) was clearly in favor of heliocentrism, and the arguments against it -- including the one offered by his friend the pope -- were placed in the mouth of the character named "Simplicio" (i.e. "Idiot"), who was a debater of obviously inferior intelligence and status than the one arguing heliocentricism.

!!Judaism
Section not finished yet.

** Which is actually false. He is still regard a church father (though not a saint) [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origen#Origen.27s_influence_on_the_later_church in most of mainstream christainity.]] Universal Redemption was a widely accepted doctrine taught by many saints and church fathers at the time (including his teacher [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clement_of_Alexandria St. Clement of Alexandria]]). The real reason was that about 2 centuries later some of his ideas (deemed "too {{Plato platonic}}" were condemned [[http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf214.xii.ix.html by the church]] for various reason, but universal redemption was not one of them.

** Which is actually false. He is still regard a church father (though not a saint) [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origen#Origen.27s_influence_on_the_later_church in most of mainstream christainity.]] Universal Redemption was a widely accepted doctrine taught by many saints and church fathers at the time (including his teacher [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clement_of_Alexandria St. Clement of Alexandria]]). The real reason was that about 2 centuries later some of his ideas (deemed "too [[Plato platonic]]" were condemned [[http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf214.xii.ix.html by the church]] for various reason, but universal redemption was not one of them.

** Which is actually false. He is still regard a church father (though not a saint) [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origen#Origen.27s_influence_on_the_later_church in most of mainstream christainity.]] Universal Redemption was a widely accepted doctrine taught by many saints and church fathers at the time (including his teacher [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clement_of_Alexandria St. Clement of Alexandria]]). The real reason was that about 2 centuries later some of his ideas (deemed too "[[Plato platonic]]" were condemned [[http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf214.xii.ix.html by the church]] for various reason, but universal redemption was not one of them.