No More Heresy

When Christians first began spreading their strange new doctrines in 1st century Jerusalem, Rabbi Gamaliel urged the Jews to be lenient and to avoid accusing them of heresy. If the new sect was doing God's will, he reasoned, men could not stop them (Acts 5:34). When Christians held power in the Middle Ages, they often ignored this common-sense approach. Heresy became an all-too-common crime punishable by all-too-painful penalties.

The Roman Catholic Church has long since abandoned cruel punishments for heresy. Since the Second Vatican Council it has also been developing an even more liberal policy. Last week the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (successor to the Inquisition and the Holy Office) issued new procedures that are far more humane in handling doctrinal "error." The word heresy will no longer be used.

That does not give Catholics carte blanche. Doctrinal investigations of unorthodox theological views will continue. But now, even where opinions are clearly at variance with official teaching, the Vatican will consult the theologian in question, and his bishop, before making a decision. In difficult cases, two independent experts will be asked for opinions. The document does not mention excommunication of persistent offenders. The ultimate punishment appears to be public censure of a theologian's views or dismissal from a teaching post. As the Sacred Congregation's Monsignor Josef Tomko commented with grand metaphor: "The electric chair and gas chamber are no more."

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