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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Shi’ite Islam: Orthodoxy Or Heterodoxy? Second Amended and Amplified Edition Chapter 1: Towards a Definition of Heterodoxy in Islam The word “sect” comes from the Latin sequi or sequor and means “to follow.” According to this definition, the term excludes the idea of schism or doctrinal rupture.

In Christian usage, the term “sect” is not free from pejorative connotations although it is much better than the label “heretic.” Nowadays, in Christian terminology, the word “sect” refers mostly to a body of people sharing religious opinions who have broken away from a larger body. “Sect” in the sense of “cult” refers to a group of people who follow the “revelations” made by its founder.

Such sects, like the Mormons for example, differ from the Church, in the non-theological sense of the term, in that they recognize another new revelation.

The sect insists on the need to understand the neo-testamentary text which is different in essence from the sacred scriptures.[^1] Besides that distinction, and as can be observed within the Adventists and Jehovah’s Witnesses, the cult believes in collective, not individual salvation, which is exclusively limited to its members.[^2] It must be understood, however, that the sects which the Church opposes in the name of orthodoxy are merely other religions with their own rites and dogmas which are only heretical with respect to official orthodoxy.

If we attempt to remove the slippery polish from the word “sect,” turning it into a simple technical term devoid of subjectivity, we will see that “the meaning of sect is closer to the Spanish word séquito [group of followers, adherents and devotees] than to what is commonly understood by secta [sect] and its derivative sectario [sectarian] which curiously and arbitrarily are applied to it” (García Bazán 114-18).[^3] As has been regularly documented, a persistent residue has adhered to the word “sect” as a result of use and abuse.

In its common meaning, it applies to exclusivist religious minorities which are opposed to a commonly accepted Church tenet. Sects are born through dissent and view themselves as a small flock of chosen ones. This is how quantitative differences come about between Church and sect. For the Western religious historian, what defines a sect is its character as a separate group, much more than its minority status, which can eventually reach the size of a Church.