Is not Islam a heresy to Christianity?

[holy_wood]

If so then is not the Catholic Church contradicting himself when it calls Islam a religion.

This is not an attack just a clarification.

Answer yes or no and explain the reason why.

 

[mchale]

I believe the answer is that it is not a Christian heresy. To be a heresy, it must have started as being part of Christianity. In general, I don’t think anyone believes that Muhammad was ever a Christian. Thus, while there are certainly Christian elements in Islam, it was never part of Christianity and is therefore not a heresy.

–
Bill

 

[BrendanD]

If so then is not the Catholic Church contradicting himself when it calls Islam a religion.

No-- a false religion is still properly called a religion. Although, calling a false religion a great religion is something totally different.

 

[holy_wood]

I believe the answer is that it is not a Christian heresy. To be a heresy, it must have started as being part of Christianity. In general, I don’t think anyone believes that Muhammad was ever a Christian. Thus, while there are certainly Christian elements in Islam, it was never part of Christianity and is therefore not a heresy.

–
Bill

Ok, but by this stand is Mormonism not a heresy even rhough it has Christian elements

 

[mchale]

Ok, but by this stand is Mormonism not a heresy even rhough it has Christian elements

Well, in so far as the original Mormons started out as Christians of one denomination or another, then yes, I imagine Mormonism could be considered a heresy. However, that being said, as it is usually applied, the word Heresy usually applies to those those groups that have split directly with the Church (Catholic or Orthodox). Since the various forms of Protestantism are already technically heresies (though modern Protestants, being born into it, are not heretics), and the founders of the Mormons were themselves protestants, it is hard to specifically classify it as a heresy.

–
Bill

 

[BeeSweet]

Well, in so far as the original Mormons started out as Christians of one denomination or another, then yes, I imagine Mormonism could be considered a heresy. However, that being said, as it is usually applied, the word Heresy usually applies to those those groups that have split directly with the Church (Catholic or Orthodox). Since the various forms of Protestantism are already technically heresies (though modern Protestants, being born into it, are not heretics), and the founders of the Mormons were themselves protestants, it is hard to specifically classify it as a heresy.

–
Bill

You have to be Baptized a Christian in order to be a heretic. Since the church does not accept Mormon Baptisms, I would think they would not qualify as heretics, that would make them another religion. I don’t know the reasons behind the church not accepting Mormon Baptisms though.

 

[manualman]

Definitions are everything in such discussions. People often slip into using the word ‘heresy’ as if it had the same definition as ‘wrong belief.’

If Muhammed was never baptized, then he just plain flat out CANNOT be a heretic. He can be dead WRONG on all counts and still not be a heretic. Heretics are christians who adopt wrong theologies.

Similarly, if Joseph Smith was never a christian (dunno the facts), then he can’t be a heretic. Even if he was baptized christian, the LDS has been around now long enough that most of its adherents are not christians who went astray, but lifelong Mormons. Thus, both the people and the religion have moved from being a heresy to a separate religion.

 

[mchale]

You have to be Baptized a Christian in order to be a heretic. Since the church does not accept Mormon Baptisms, I would think they would not qualify as heretics, that would make them another religion. I don’t know the reasons behind the church not accepting Mormon Baptisms though.

I am not sure of the reason, but I suspect it is because the Mormon beliefs about the Trinity are fundamentally different than ours. They not only believe that there are three persons in God, but that they are actually independent beings (I also believe they reject the principle that God is an uncreated being).

–
Bill

 

[bpbasilphx]

St. John of Damascus functioned in a Mahometan court in the early days of Mahometanism, and at the time considered it to be just another Christian heresy.

However, Mahometanism has developed since then into what Mussulmans believe today, so it is a separate religion.

I confess there is NO GOD but Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and Jesus is God Incarnate risen from the dead.

 

[Publisher]

**"You have to be Baptized a **Christian in order to be a heretic."

WHEW!!! I guess I’m not a heretic then! I’ve been told I was, but there seems to be confusion as to who is and who isn’t. If “baptism with water” is the criteria…I guess I’m safe.

 

[gochrist9436]

If so then is not the Catholic Church contradicting himself when it calls Islam a religion.

This is not an attack just a clarification.

Answer yes or no and explain the reason why.

Well sure. The same way Christanity is a hersey to Juadiasm and Buddhism is a heresy to Hinduism.

 

[mikew262]

Well sure. The same way Christanity is a hersey to Juadiasm and Buddhism is a heresy to Hinduism.

Pretty silly, huh? How many millions (or perhaps billions) over the years have been killed in the name of religion?

I’m sure God has shed many a tear over it.

 

[Publisher]

Pretty silly, huh? How many millions (or perhaps billions) over the years have been killed in the name of religion?

I’m sure God has shed many a tear over it.

I don’t know that it’s “silly” but I know it is tragic. The beliefs in a God who sought to bring us life…"life more abundantly’…has been reduced to a school yard brawl way too many times.

 

[mikew262]

I don’t know that it’s “silly” but I know it is tragic. The beliefs in a God who sought to bring us life…"life more abundantly’…has been reduced to a school yard brawl way too many times.

Yes, perhaps tragic is a better word. I stand corrected.

 

[EB4304]

I’m pretty sure Islam is a heresy because it makes claims about Christ that are contrary to Christianity. But this is kind of a tricky subject - to define heresy well.

 

[MelanieAnne]

Here’s a definition I found in the Catholic Answers Library:

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that “heresy is the obstinate post-baptismal denial of some truth that must be believed with divine and Catholic faith, or it is likewise an obstinate doubt concerning the same” (CCC 2089).

To commit heresy, one must refuse to be corrected. A person who is ready to be corrected or who is unaware that what he has been saying is against Church teaching is not a heretic.

A person must be baptized to commit heresy. Movements that have split off from or been influenced by Christianity but do not practice baptism (or do not practice valid baptism) are not heresies but separate religions.

Finally, the doubt or denial involved in heresy must concern a matter that has been revealed by God and solemnly defined by the Church (for example, the Trinity, the Incarnation, the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, the sacrifice of the Mass, the pope’s infallibility, or the Immaculate Conception and Assumption of Mary).

Based on that definition, it would appear Islam is not a heresy of Catholicism.

 

[valient_Lucy]

I thought heresy had to be propagated by a baptized person, so since Muhammad was never baptized, he would not have been a heretic.

Granted, I could be completely and utterly wrong on that account. So I hope someone else points the correct information.

 

[c659smith]

I thought heresy had to be propagated by a baptized person, so since Muhammad was never baptized, he would not have been a heretic.

Granted, I could be completely and utterly wrong on that account. So I hope someone else points the correct information.

you are absolutely correct in order to be a heretic you must first have the fullness of faith, meaning being a Catholic and then turning your back on the Church either it’s Sacred Teachings, Sacred Scriptures, or Sacred Traditions.

King Henry the 8th and Martin Luther are branded as Heretics for they were Catholic and then attempted to make changes on the Church by themselves.

Remember we are “One”, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic, Church

Individualism does not fit with Church Teachings.

If and when changes occurr we make them as a whole.

 

[Verisimilitude]

Some facts that bare upon the discussion might be interesting to some.

Mohammed was raised from pre-teen age mostly by an uncle whose clan was very important as it was responsible for the Al-Ka ba where the many religious idols of the tribes were congregated around the black stone.

Mohammed likely had a Ebonite christian wedding to his first wife, Khadija by her cousin Waraqa bin Neufel.

Waraqa was the pastor of a large Ebonite church in Mecca and is widely accepted he married them when Mohammed was 25/her 40. It was 15 years before Mohammed received his first vision/call so it is not unreasonable to assume Mohammed took him as a mentor and maybe converted (my conjecture) during that time in between running caravans for his wife which is how they met. Khadija was likely the same faith as her cousin and the competition between the many gods of the time was of little consequence before Mohammeds started up.

Ebonites do not accept the divinity of Jesus or the resurrection and it was Waraqa that told Mohammed it was the same angel that spoke to Moses that tossed him about and spoke to Mohammed. By this time Waraqa is reported to have been blind and died very soon after the first revelation in the cave.

Waraqa did not accept Islam before he died because he is thought of as an unbeliever today, like Mohammeds own mother. There is a story of Mohammed crying in distres because his mother died before his call and was most likely suffering in hell because of it and he could do nothing about it because of the will of allah.

 

[manualman]

I don’t know that it’s “silly” but I know it is tragic. The beliefs in a God who sought to bring us life…"life more abundantly’…has been reduced to a school yard brawl way too many times.

The question the thoughtful skeptic must ponder is whether the theological wranglings that developed into brawls and brutality were the CAUSE of the behavior or merely the scenic backdrop upon which the tragedy of a humanity already fallen played out its scene.

Look a little deeper at history and you might be surprised.