infidel

(in’fi-del),a.andn. [=F infidéle= Sp. Pg. infiel = It. infedele, faithle , unfaithful, unbelieving, ¢ L. infidel is, unfaithful, faithle (LL. unbelieving, ML. also as noun, an unbeliever), infidel 3+. In feudal law, one who violated fealty. Rapalje and Lawrence. =8yn, Infidel, Unbeliever, Disbeliever, Deist, Atheist, Agnostic, Skeptic, Free-thinker. The word infidel is generally used in opprobrium. It may mean either a disbeliever in one’s own religion as opposed to another (as a Christian in the view of a Mohammedan, or the contrary), or a deist, an atheist, or an agnostic. (See below.) In strict use, however, it is not applicable to one who has neyer heard of Christianity, nor to one who rejects some particular doctrine of the Christian church, while he accepts Christianity as a divinely revealed religion, nor to one who is in avowed doubt respecting the fundamental doctrines of Christianity, but willing to be taught and persuaded. The first is a heathen, the second a heretic, the third a skeptic. Umbel i ever and disbeliever are negative in form, but disbeliever is positive in its implication that one actually refuses to believe; the unbeliever only fails to believe. (See disbelief.) Unbeliever is almost always general, applying to Christianity as a whole; disbeliever is specific, but has a wider range of po ible application: as, a disbeliever in the divine right of kings. A deist believes in a God, but denies the fact or po ibility of a revelation. An atheist denies the existence ofaGod. An agnostic denies (a) any po ible or (b) any actual knowledge concerning God and a future life. A skeptic either doubts whether any truth or principle can be philosophically established, or, specifically, doubts the truth of all propositions in the field of religion. Freethinker, though inoffensive by derivation, is opprobriously used, the freedom of thinking being held to be lawle ne or license. None of these words draws the line distinctly between honesty and dishonesty in the treatment of the evidences of Christianity. The Saxons were Jnjidels, and brought in with them Diversity of Idols, after whose names they gave Appellations to the several Days of the Week. Baker, Chronicles, p. 2. I love to consider an infidel, whether distinguished by the title of deist, atheist, or free-thinker, in three different lights; in his solitudes, his afflictions, and his last moments, Add is on and Steele, Tatler, No. 111. By night an atheist half believes a God. Young, Night Thoughts, v. 172. He on the thought-benighted skeptic beamed Manifest Godhead. Cole ridge, Religious Musings, 1. 31.