church teachings
Faith's official positions
Church teachings are the official doctrines, beliefs, and moral positions held by a religious institution, particularly in Christianity.
The phrase usually refers to positions established by church authority rather than derived directly from scripture: The church teachings on contraception remain controversial.
Someone may agree with their faith's core beliefs while questioning specific church teachings on social issues.
- dogmaUnchallengeable official beliefs
- creedStatement of belief
- TrinityGodhead as three persons
- holy spiritSacred immaterial divine presence
- commandmentsAuthoritative rules demanding compliance
Ten Commandments · original sin · virtue · liturgy · sin · encyclical · canon law · homily · salvation · eternal life · Nicene Creed · sermon · sacraments · Eucharist · baptism · papal · papal infallibility · eschatology
- Sunday schoolBible stories, Sunday school teachers, memory verses, lesson plans, Bible verse
- Christian ethicsChristian morality, Christian values, divine law, Christian virtues, natural law
- Christian literaturedevotionals, prayer books, hymnal, missals, lectionary
- religious educationreligious education, Bible college, Bible stories, religious instruction, Sunday school
- Faith and Sexualitysame-sex marriage, human sexuality, blessing ceremonies, conversion therapy, religious trauma
- CatholicismVatican, cardinals, pope, Holy Communion, popes
church teachingsmystical experience
Profound encounter beyond ordinary perception
inner light · folk religion · personal devotion · spiritual but not religious
church teachingsscientific knowledge
Facts established through research
secular humanism · empirical evidence · rationalism · materialism · freethought
church teachingsheresy
Belief opposing official doctrine
apostasy · blasphemy · pagan beliefs · gnosticism · heterodoxy