Unbelief

The unbelief of a person who refuses to hear the truths of faith, or who despises these truths, is a sin.

Unbelief, like faith, is in the intellect as its proper subject. It is also in the will, inasmuch as every human act is inthe will as its principle. Unbelief in the intellect, accepted orat least unrejected by the will, is sinful unbelief.

Apart from the sins directly opposed to the other theological virtues (that is, hope and charity), unbelief is the greatest of sins, because it severs a man completely from God andfalsifies his very notion of God. Unbelief is the greatest of sins against faith.

Great as the sin of unbelief is, it does not makesinful every human act of the unbeliever, but only such human acts as proceed from it as from their principle.

There are three main types of unbelief: that of paganswho resist the faith; that of the chosen people; that of heretics.

The unbelief of pagans who resist the true faith is not so great a sin as the unbelief of heretics or Jews who reject the faith.

Arguing or disputing about the faith is sometimes justified; indeed, it is sometimes necessary. Such disputation must never be a manifestation of doubt or weakness in the faith. And it must never be of a nature unsuited to the capacity of those who hear it.

A person who has not the faith cannot be compelled by human means or authority to accept it. Yet such a person should be compelled by human means not to interfere with the faithful, not toscandalize them by blasphemy, not to bring persecution upon them. Those who have lapsed from the faith, as apostates and heretics,might justly be compelled to consider their error and their breaking of their promises.

We should not be on familiar terms with those whosinfully reject the faith. Nor can we have any part in the false worship of apostates or heretics. Those who are strong in the faith, and are equipped for solid discussion, should try to win back unbelievers who have rejected the faith, but never in such away as to scandalize the more simple-minded among the faithful.

Unbelievers are not to be permitted to set up authority over the faithful. But in governments already established, unbelievers in office have authority over the faithful, apart from matters of divine law.

The religious rites of unbelievers are to be tolerated, since these are lesser evils than those that would arise by reason of an effort to forbid or eradicate such rites. In themselves, the rites of unbelievers are sinful, for they are not of divine origin, but are in conflict with divine ordinance. Yet these rites are not recognized as evil by those who honestly use them; hence, they are not formally sinful, but only materially so.To tolerate such rites seems to be the best way of winning the goodwill of the user of them, and so obtaining opportunity to instruct him in the true faith.

Children of Jews and unbelievers are not to be baptized against the will of their parents.