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Revision as of 18:25, 31 January 2006 by Mike18xx (talk | contribs) (We're back where I was 22:14, 29th -- imagine that!)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)An "infidel" 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 (usually heirarchical) doctrine, system, or principle.
- In Christianity, "infidel" is an archaism now supplanted variously by "atheist", "agnostic", "heathen" or "pagan".
- In Islam, an Arabic term romanized as "kafir" is used for atheists and the followers of other religions apart from the People of the Book (generally taken to be Jews, Christians and Samaritans), and is often translated as "infidel". It may also be used in some contexts for Peoples of the Book.
Other terms arising from the same general concept, but not rendered to "infidel" in English:
- In Hinduism, "nastik" describes one who does not recognize the authority of the Vedas, and "mleccha" (archaism), someone who does not follow the Hindu way of living.
(See Infidel (computer game) for the 1983 computer text adventure from Infocom.)