Warhammer

>Warhammer
>people who turn their back on the religion are called "heretics" when they should be called "apostates"

shut up, heretic

>implying I wouldn't just be a heathen

heathen implies believing in other gods. synonymous with pagan.

apostate is sorta like atheist, areligious or anticlerical guy

heretic comes from word "free choice" and means all of the above

and one word is enough, since they all gotta burn anyway

Usually because when they turn their back on the Old World pantheon/the Emperor, they're turning to Chaos.

noun: heretic; plural noun: heretics
a person believing in or practising religious heresy.
synonyms: dissident, dissenter, nonconformist, unorthodox thinker, heterodox thinker, apostate, freethinker, iconoclast, schismatic, renegade; More
antonyms: conformist, believer
a person holding an opinion at odds with what is generally accepted.

Seems pretty accurate.

BLAM!

Also, note that apostate is a synonym of heretic so OP's whole point is retarded.

To be fair, just being a synonym of a word doesn't necessarily mean they mean the same thing. Renegade has a different meaning than heretic, unorthodox thinker and heterodox thinker have slightly different meanings, especially compared to freethinker.

Which would mean "heathen/pagan" implies legitimacy to the belief in other gods. The Imperium is not going to be lending the Chaos Gods legitimacy in their own Church.

And "apostate" being like Atheist... Well, the Imperial Creed would not want to even acknowledge the concept of Atheism, or lend it legitimacy.

So there's actually some good reason to use heretic in that context.

Typically, "apostate" is someone who has abandoned a former religion, whereas "heretic" is someone who continues to claim association with the faith but teaches or practices things that deviate from the religious orthodoxy.

There's also "schismatic", which is basically a heretic who breaks off and starts their own separate splinter sect.

In terms of real-world religions, pro-abortion Catholics are heretics, Protestants are schismatics, and atheists deconverted from Catholicism are apostates. Heathens may or may not be apostate, depending on whether they started in the religion in question. A Wiccan would be considered a heathen, and if they converted from Catholicism they would be apostate relative to the Catholic Church.

It was the 80's, GW didn't actually know anything about the history of the church they based the IoM on anymore than FASA knew about Native Americans.

You could also just chalk it up to a simplification in Low Gothic if you want to headcanon it. After all, the dregs don't need to know the difference between somebody who believes the emperor is an alien or somebody who worships and actual alien god. You respond to either the exact same way.

you sound suspiciously knowledgeable about turning you back on the emperors light, why don't you go have a nice chat with the men with giant piles of kindling and Excruciators

And those who should be called Locium Classici are called Adeptus Astartes.

Your point?

Another thing to note is that a lot of what 40k (or at least 40k memery) calls heresy would actually be more accurately termed blasphemy. Heresy is the teaching of ides contrary to the orthodoxy of the faith. Blasphemy is simply saying things that that would disrespect what the faith holds sacred.

thank you my friend

>anymore than FASA knew about Native Americans
Or Japanese.

>Autist
>You

Heretic has a better ring to it

All apostates are heretics, but not all heretics are apostates.

>people who turn their back on the religion are called "heretics" when they should be called "apostates"

Nobody in 40K "turn their back" on the Emperor, they deliberately betray Him and His Empire to the forces of Chaos. That's not apostasy, that's heresy.

I *guess* you could count the Tau-affiliated humans apostates instead of heretics, in that their betrayal and turn to Chaos is unwitting, but they still turn to Chaos.

that's not the point. point is, they all are heretics and should burn

>he doesnt know about 40K apostates
lel, newfag