Indifferentism

Indifferentism is the belief held by some that no one religion or philosophy is superior to another. Religious indifferentism is to be distinguished from political indifferentism. Political indifferentism relates to the policy of a State that treats all the religions within its borders as being on an equal footing before the law of the country. Indifferentism is not to be confused with religious indifference. Indifferentism is primarily a theory disparaging the value of religions; religious indifference designates the conduct of those who, whether they do or do not believe in the necessity and utility of religion, do in fact neglect to fulfill its duties. The Catholic Church ascribes indifferentism to many atheistic, materialistic, pantheistic, and agnostic philosophies. There are three basic types of indifferentism described by Catholic apologetics: absolute, restricted, and liberal or latitudinarian indifferentism. Indifferentism was first explicitly identified and opposed by Pope Gregory XVI, in his 1832 encyclical letter, Mirari vos: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. In the Catholic Church, the belief that one religion is as good as another, and that all religions are equally valid paths to salvation, is believed to be false. One argument the Church advances is that nobody believes that a religion based on human sacrifice and the subjugation of rivals is as good, true, and beautiful as one based on heroic love of God and neighbor. The condemnation of indifferentism as a heresy is closely linked to the dogmatic definition that outside the Church there is no salvation, a complex idea postulating that many people are followers of Christ without any specific understanding that it is in fact Jesus whom they are following. See also the Catholic concept of the "Baptism of Desire".