When feuding with religious folks with whom you have a sharp divide, the discussion can become very intense. Some people will arbitrarily throw out the work “heretic” as a sort of emotional insult. It is almost like saying “You are an idiot.” That departs from the historical and appropriate way in which this word is used. When somebody is a heretic, or guilty of heresy, it is because they have abandoned some central and critical element of the Christian faith. We may disagree about secondary or tertiary or ecclesiastical doctrines.…