Religious Unity & Indifferentism
Defined as "The
denial that the worship of God and the practice of the true religion
is a duty of man." It is also commonly referred to as "other religions besides Catholicism are acceptable to
God". See references from Scripture and
Church teaching below:
References
In Scripture:
- "But
though we, or an angel from heaven, preach a gospel to you
besides that which we have preached to you, let him be
anathema. As we said before, so now I say again: If any one
preach to you a gospel, besides that which you have
received, let him be anathema." Galations 1:8-9
- "Go ye
into the whole world, and preach the gospel to every
creature. He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved:
but he that believeth not shall be condemned." Matthew 16:15
- "A man
that is a heretic, after the first and second admonition,
avoid: Knowing that he, that is such an one, is subverted,
and sinneth, being condemned by his own judgment." Titus
3:10-11
- "If any
man come to you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him
not into the house nor say to him, God speed you. For he
that saith unto him, God speed you, communicateth with his
wicked works." 2 John 1:10-11
- "He
that is not with me, is against me: and he that gathereth
not with me, scattereth" Matthew 12:30
- "But he
that shall deny me before men, I will also deny him before
my Father who is in heaven." Mat 10:33
- "Now I
beseech you, brethren, to mark them who make dissensions and
offences contrary to the doctrine which you have learned,
and avoid them. For they that are such, serve not Christ our
Lord, but their own belly; and by pleasing speeches and good
words, seduce the hearts of the innocent" Romans 16:17-18
Catholic Church Teaching on Religious Unity
& Indifferentism
- "Certainly such attempts can nowise be
approved by Catholics, founded as they are on that false opinion
which considers all religions to be more or less good and
praiseworthy, since they all in different ways manifest and
signify that sense which is inborn in us all, and by which we
are led to God and to the obedient acknowledgment of His rule.
Not only are those who hold this opinion in error and deceived,
but also in distorting the idea of true religion they reject it,
and little by little turn aside to naturalism and atheism, as it
is called; from which it clearly follows that one who supports
those who hold these theories and attempt to realize them, is
altogether abandoning the divinely revealed religion."
Encyclical "Mortalium Animos" (On Religious Unity), by Pope Pius XI in 1928
- "If our
Redeemer plainly said that His Gospel was to continue not
only during the times of the Apostles, but also till future
ages, is it possible that the object of faith should in the
process of time become so obscure and uncertain, that it
would be necessary to-day to tolerate opinions which are
even incompatible one with another? If this were true, we
should have to confess that the coming of the Holy Ghost on
the Apostles, and the perpetual indwelling of the same
Spirit in the Church, and the very preaching of Jesus
Christ, have several centuries ago, lost all their efficacy
and use, to affirm which would be blasphemy."
Encyclical "Mortalium Animos" (On Religious Unity), by Pope Pius XI in 1928
- "These
pan-Christians who turn their minds to uniting the churches
seem, indeed, to pursue the noblest of ideas in promoting
charity among all Christians: nevertheless how does it
happen that this charity tends to injure faith? Everyone
knows that John himself, the Apostle of love, who seems to
reveal in his Gospel the secrets of the Sacred Heart of
Jesus, and who never ceased to impress on the memories of
his followers the new commandment "Love one another,"
altogether forbade any intercourse with those who professed
a mutilated and corrupt version of Christ's teaching: "If
any man come to you and bring not this doctrine, receive him
not into the house nor say to him: God speed you."[18] For
which reason, since charity is based on a complete and
sincere faith, the disciples of Christ must be united
principally by the bond of one faith. Who then can conceive
a Christian Federation, the members of which retain each his
own opinions and private judgment, even in matters which
concern the object of faith, even though they be repugnant
to the opinions of the rest?"
Encyclical "Mortalium Animos" (On Religious Unity), by Pope Pius XI in 1928
- "How so
great a variety of opinions can make the way clear to effect
the unity of the Church We know not; that unity can only
arise from one teaching authority, one law of belief and one
faith of Christians. But We do know that from this it is an
easy step to the neglect of religion or indifferentism and
to modernism, as they call it."
Encyclical "Mortalium Animos" (On Religious Unity), by Pope Pius XI in 1928
- "So,
Venerable Brethren, it is clear why this Apostolic See has
never allowed its subjects to take part in the assemblies of
non-Catholics: for the union of Christians can only be
promoted by promoting the return to the one true Church of
Christ of those who are separated from it, for in the past
they have unhappily left it"
Encyclical "Mortalium Animos" (On Religious Unity), by Pope Pius XI in 1928
- "For
since the mystical body of Christ, in the same manner as His
physical body, is one,[22] compacted and fitly joined
together,[23] it were foolish and out of place to say that
the mystical body is made up of members which are disunited
and scattered abroad: whosoever therefore is not united with
the body is no member of it, neither is he in communion with
Christ its head"
Encyclical "Mortalium Animos" (On Religious Unity), by Pope Pius XI in 1928
- "The
Catholic Church is alone in keeping the true worship. This
is the fount of truth, this the house of Faith, this the
temple of God: if any man enter not here, or if any man go
forth from it, he is a stranger to the hope of life and
salvation. Let none delude himself with obstinate wrangling.
For life and salvation are here concerned, which will be
lost and entirely destroyed, unless their interests are
carefully and assiduously kept in mind"
Encyclical "Mortalium Animos" (On Religious Unity), by Pope Pius XI in 1928
- "Now We
consider another abundant source of the evils with which the
Church is afflicted at present: indifferentism. This
perverse opinion is spread on all sides by the fraud of the
wicked who claim that it is possible to obtain the eternal
salvation of the soul by the profession of any kind of
religion, as long as morality is maintained. Surely, in so
clear a matter, you will drive this deadly error far from
the people committed to your care. With the admonition of
the apostle that "there is one God, one faith, one
baptism"." Encyclical On Liberalism and Religious
Indifferentism, Pope Gregory XVI, 1832
-
Indifferentism is also clearly condemned by name in the "SYLLABUS
OF ERRORS CONDEMNED BY PIUS IX" in 1864
- To
hold, therefore, that there is no difference in matters of
religion between forms that are unlike each other, and even
contrary to each other, most clearly leads in the end to the
rejection of all religion in both theory and practice. And
this is the same thing as atheism, however it may differ
from it in name. Men who really believe in the existence of
God must, in order to be consistent with themselves and to
avoid absurd conclusions, understand that differing modes of
divine worship involving dissimilarity and conflict even on
most important points cannot all be equally probable,
equally good, and equally acceptable to God" ON THE
CHRISTIAN CONSTITUTION OF STATES, Pope Leo XIII, 1885
- "Such
is the nature of Catholicism that it does not admit of more
or less, but must be held as a whole or as a whole rejected:
"This is the Catholic faith, which unless a man believe
faithfully and firmly; he cannot be saved" (Athanas. Creed).
There is no need of adding any qualifying terms to the
profession of Catholicism: it is quite enough for each one
to proclaim "Christian is my name and Catholic my surname,"
only let him endeavour to be in reality what he calls
himself" Encyclical on "Appealing for Peace" by Pope
Benedict XV, 1914
- "Most
of the laws passed by the Church refer to the relations
between its subjects and infidels in not only religious but
also civil affairs. Speaking generally, the faithful are
forbidden to take part in any religious rites, considered as
such, of pagans, Mohammedans, or Jews, and all the more to
practice them through a kind of survival of their primitive
superstitions" 1917 Catholic Encyclopedia, Infidels
Summary
Scripture as well as
the history of Catholic Church teaching clearly show religious unity,
and indifferentism to be false. When Our Lord said "he
that believeth not shall be condemned", it didn't mean that other
beliefs were acceptable. Believing in Catholicism and another so-called
religion which teaches contrary to it, is the same as believing in truth
and error at the same time. The Catholic Church has never taught this
and one cannot call themselves Catholic by believing in religious unity
or indifferentism.
|