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An infidel (from the Latin in fidelis, literally, "one without faith") is an unbeliever concerning central tenets of a religion, often used in a pejorative sense to describe those who explicitly deny them (especially regarding asserted aspects of a religion's deities). More generally, an infidel is one who doubts or rejects a particular doctrine, system, or principle.

The word, though now seen as an archaism, was used by the Catholic Church to describe anyone who had not recieved Baptism, the primary of the seven Catholic sacraments.

The word was given special promenance during the Crusades when Papal decree meant that slaying an Infidel, specificaly Jews or Muslims, would count as a form of Penance.

In Catholic theology, simply being an infidel does not imply that one is a sinner, and the church recognises that infidels may perform good deeds of virtue, charity, etc, however, without baptism they will be excluded from paradise. Proposals to record "all works of infidels are sinful, and all the virtues of the philosophers are vices" or "purely negative infidelity in those to whom Christ has not been preached is a sin" were both opposed by the papal authorities.

Non-Believers in other religions

• The Arabic word kafir (كافر) is used by Muslims to describe non-Muslims and tend to be translated as "infidel" in western media. Owing to its use in a derogatory manner, some Muslims now prefer to use the term "Non-Muslim". Turkish speaking Muslims may use the word giaour in this respect.

• The word Gentile (Or Goy) is used by some to describe non-jews or Non-Mormons.

• The word Mlechcha is used by Hindus to describe non-Hindus, and is the Hindu equivalent of Barbarian, in that its original meaning is someone who speaks a different language (and thus is of a different faith).

External links

• Catholic Encyclopedia entry on "Infidel"
• Merriam-Webster definition for "infidel".
• Merriam-Webster definition for "unbeliever".

• Religion