Christianity
Islam
Judaism
Hinduism
Buddhism
Heresy & Apostasy
What happens when a believer departs from accepted doctrine? Every tradition has mechanisms for defining orthodoxy and responding to deviation. Heresy and apostasy raise fundamental questions about community boundaries, the nature of truth, and whether faith can be compelled or must be freely given.
Across the World's Religions
Christianity
- Practice
- Heresy (hairesis) — deviation from creedal orthodoxy
- Key Text
- Galatians 1:8-9; 2 Peter 2:1; Titus 3:10
Islam
- Practice
- Riddah (apostasy) and bid'ah (innovation in religion)
- Key Text
- Quran 2:217, 3:86-91
Judaism
- Practice
- Apikoros (heretic) and mumar (apostate) in Halakha
- Key Text
- Deuteronomy 13:6-11; Sanhedrin 99a
Hinduism
- Practice
- Nastika (heterodox) vs Astika (orthodox) schools
- Key Text
- Bhagavad Gita 16:7-20; Brahma Sutra 2.2
Buddhism
- Practice
- Schism (sanghabheda) as gravest communal transgression
- Key Text
- Vinaya Pitaka, Sanghadisesa 10-11; AN 10.39