Infidel facts for kids
An infidel is a word that means "unfaithful." It was often used to describe someone who did not believe in the main ideas of a certain religion. This could be someone from a different religion, or someone who didn't follow any religion at all.
In Christianity, the term infidel was used to describe people who were not baptized or who did not follow the Church's teachings. Christians often used this word for those they saw as enemies of Christianity.
Over time, as major religions like Judaism, Christianity, and Islam grew, the idea of "outsiders" became more common. In modern times, the word infidel can include atheists (people who don't believe in God), polytheists (people who believe in many gods), animists (people who believe spirits are in nature), and pagans (people who follow older, non-Christian religions).
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What the Word Means
The word infidel comes from the late 15th century. It comes from the French word infidèle or the Latin word īnfidēlis. This Latin word is made of in- meaning "not" and fidēlis meaning "faithful." The word fidēlis comes from fidēs, which means "faith" or "trust."
At first, the word described someone from a different religion, like a Christian talking about a Muslim, or a Muslim talking about a Christian, or a non-Jew talking about a Jew. Later, in the 15th century, it also meant "unbelieving" or "someone who does not believe in religion."
How the Word Was Used
Historically, Christians used the term infidel for people who actively went against Christianity. By the early 1500s, it was commonly used in English to describe Jews or Muslims (who were sometimes called Saracens) as opponents of Christianity.
In the Catholic Church, an infidel was someone who did not believe in Christian teachings at all. This was different from a heretic, who was someone who had been Christian but then stopped believing in certain important ideas, like the divinity of Jesus (that Jesus was divine). The Methodist Church also used the term for those "without faith."
Today, the word infidel is not used as much. People now prefer terms like non-Christians or non-believers (for people without religious beliefs). This shows that many Christian groups want to talk and understand people of other faiths. However, some people still argue that the term is not disrespectful, but simply describes someone who is not a believer, similar to how "orthodox" describes a very devout believer.
Some translations of the Bible, like the King James Version, still use the word infidel. Other translations have changed it to nonbeliever. Here are two examples from the King James Version:
And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? —2 Corinthians 6:15 KJV
But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel. —1 Timothy 5:8 KJV
Infidels and Old Church Laws
Who Had the Right to Rule?
In the past, Church leaders discussed whether non-Christians had the right to rule their own lands. Innocent IV, a Pope, believed that while non-Christians had a right to govern themselves, the Pope, as the leader of Christians, also had a right to get involved if their rulers broke certain natural laws. He also felt it was his duty to send missionaries to non-Christian lands. If these missionaries were stopped, the Pope believed he could send Christian forces to invade those lands. He said that if non-Christians did not obey, they could be forced by war. However, this right was not for non-Christian missionaries to preach in Europe.
Some Church lawyers, like Alanus Anglicus, believed that non-Christians had no right to rule at all. They thought that Rome (the Pope) had authority over the whole world. They even believed the Pope could allow lands to be conquered just because the people didn't believe in the Christian God. Some, like Bernard of Clairvaux, even supported holy wars against non-Christians who were seen as a threat.
The Teutonic Knights were a group of Christian knights who fought in the Crusades. After fighting in the Middle East, they moved to the Baltics to fight against non-Christians there, like the Lithuanians and Poles. However, the Council of Constance later disagreed with the idea that non-Christians had no right to rule. After this, the Church followed Pope Innocent IV's view that non-Christians did have a right to govern themselves.
Colonization of the Americas
During the Age of Discovery, when Europeans explored and settled new lands, some official papers from the Pope, called papal bulls (like inter caetera from 1493), were used. These papers suggested that non-Christians did not have full ownership of their lands. Instead, these lands were given to Spain and Portugal, with the goal of protecting missionaries.
Later, Protestant countries did not accept the Pope's authority to give away lands. So, they created their own official documents, called charters, for their colonial missions. These charters used similar language, saying they had a right to care for the souls of non-Christians. These papal bulls and charters became important legal documents for future negotiations and land claims in the new law of nations.
These old rights from the papal bulls are still mentioned in legal arguments today. For example, in 1823, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the case Johnson v. McIntosh that because Europeans "discovered" the land, Native Americans only had a right to live on their lands, not to own them fully. In later cases, the court called Native American tribes "domestic dependent nations," meaning they were somewhat independent but still under the authority of the U.S. federal government.
Some Native American groups, like the Taíno and Onondaga, have asked the Vatican to officially cancel these old papal bulls.
Marriage Rules
The Catholic Encyclopedia states that the Catholic Church historically saw marriages between Christians and non-Christians as forbidden and invalid. This was unless a special permission, called a dispensation, was given. This was because marriage is considered a sacrament in the Catholic Church, which non-Christians were thought to be unable to receive.
As a Way of Thinking
Some philosophers like Thomas Paine, David Hume, and Voltaire were called infidels or freethinkers. This was because they criticized religion and opposed the Church. They were part of a movement that wanted to change societies that were deeply rooted in Christian ideas, laws, and culture. This "infidel tradition" was different from other anti-Christian groups because it was also against the idea of God (anti-theistic) and was often linked with atheism. These thinkers also tried to create new communities and societies, which led to other movements like secularism (the idea of separating government from religion) and influenced the French Revolution.
By the early 1900s, these movements tried to move away from the word "infidel" because it had a negative meaning. George Holyoake, for example, is said to have created the term 'secularism' to help bridge the gap with other groups who wanted reforms.
In 1793, Immanuel Kant wrote a book that showed how the Enlightenment period changed thinking. It began to separate moral and rational ideas, replacing the old "true believer/infidel" difference with "rational/irrational."
Old Civil Laws and Infidels
Laws passed by the Catholic Church in the past did not just cover religious matters between Christians and non-Christians, but also civil matters. For example, Christians were not allowed to take part in non-Christian religious ceremonies or wear symbols of other religions.
In the Early Middle Ages, based on the idea that Christians were superior, rules were made. For instance, Jews were forbidden from owning Christian slaves. Later laws also stopped Christians from working for Jews, or Christian women from being nurses or midwives for them. Christians were also told not to use Jewish doctors when sick. Jews were often forced to live in specific parts of towns and wear special clothing so they could be recognized.
Later, during the Victorian era, the statements of people who said they were infidels or atheists were not accepted in a court of law. People believed that they would not feel a moral duty to tell the truth under oath because they did not believe in God, or Heaven and Hell.
Today, these old rules have been replaced by modern legislation. Catholics in their daily lives are no longer governed by these old Church laws.
Similar Terms in Other Religions
Islam
In Arabic, a word similar to infidel that refers to non-Muslims is kafir. This word comes from a root that means "covering" or "concealing." It can also mean someone who disbelieves, is ungrateful, or rejects a certain idea. Another term, sometimes used in a similar way, is mushrik, which means "polytheist" or someone who worships gods other than Allah.
In the Quran, the holy book of Islam, the term kafir was first used for the people of Mecca who did not believe in Muhammad. Later, Muslims were told to stay separate from them and defend themselves.
The Quran also uses the term "people of the book" (Ahl al-Kitāb) for Jews, Christians, and Sabians. This means Islam sees Jews and Christians as followers of holy scriptures sent by God earlier. Over time, Islamic rulers in Persia and India also included followers of Zoroastrianism and Hinduism in the "people of the book" category.
In some parts of the Quran, especially after the Hijra (Muhammad's journey to Medina in AD 622), the meaning of kafir grew to include Jews and Christians. It refers to anyone who does not believe in Islam, mocks Islam, or supports non-Muslims against Muslims. Jews were called kafirs for not believing in God's signs. Christians were called kafirs for believing in the Trinity (God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), which the Quran saw as a major disbelief.
Some Islamic sayings (hadiths) say that Muslims should not call other Muslims kafir. However, the term was still used in arguments between different Islamic groups. For example, some Sunni texts have called Shia Muslims infidels. Certain groups, like Wahhabism, consider Muslims who visit Sufi shrines or follow Shia teachings about Imams to be kafir. Similarly, in Africa and South Asia, some Islamic groups have called others, like Hausas or Ahmadi, kafir.
The group of kafir also includes murtadd, which means apostate or someone who leaves Islam. For these people, old Islamic law sometimes said they should be put to death if they refused to return to Islam.
Historically, how Muslims treated non-believers depended more on the social and political situation than on religious rules. There was often tolerance towards non-believers, especially the People of the Book, even up to the time of the Crusades. However, repeated wars with non-believers led to more hostility. Wars between Safavid Persia and the Ottoman Empire even led to the term kafir being used for Persians in Turkish religious rulings.
In Sufism, a mystical branch of Islam, the term took on a special meaning. A famous Sufi poet, Abu Sa'id, wrote: "So long as belief and unbelief are not perfectly equal, no man can be a true Muslim." This has been explained in different ways, suggesting a deeper understanding of faith.
Judaism
Judaism has a term for non-Jewish pagans called עכומ 'acum. This is short for "star-and-constellation worshippers."
The Hebrew term, kofer, which is similar to the Arabic kafir, is only used for Jews who have left their faith.
See also
