For religion, anyone who does not have faith in God is impious.
Impious is a concept that comes from a Latin word that is used to refer to someone who lacks the virtue of piety or faith in God . In turn, it is used as a synonym for hostile, as far as religious and sacred matters are concerned.
Here are some examples where the term appears: "It was a time when the wicked were persecuted and, once found, tortured to death" , "The priest considered the old man to be wicked, although he did not dare to question him in public because of his influence over the people" , "David showed wicked behavior toward those who cried out for mercy" .
What is impiety
For theology , impiety consists in the denial of God as an all-powerful creature. In Roman times, impiety was associated with immorality, sacrilege and wickedness.
The notion even transcended the religious: those who did not respect their parents or their country were considered impious. Those people who declared their freedom and denied their obligations to other people (father, country or God) were considered impious: heartless and unnatural people.
The salvation of the wicked
Purgatory is a concept widely spread by the Catholic Church to instill fear in the people and thus ensure the faithful follow it. Through the idea of punishment after death, this institution managed to fight against impiety.
Purgatory is the place where souls end up after death, before heading to heaven, also known as paradise. It is not a physical place but rather a transitional state of the soul towards purification , a step through which atonement for the sins committed is achieved.
This is where all those who, without having committed mortal sins, have left some loose ends (venial sins unconfessed before a church authority) go. In this space, believers are purified from the stain of these sins to eliminate this temporal punishment and obtain the kind and compassionate gaze of God, to prepare for the only life that should matter: eternal life .
Christianity holds that the wicked go to purgatory to atone for their sins.
Characteristics of purgatory
It is believed that all those who enter Purgatory eventually go to Heaven , so it is not reasonable to say that Purgatory is the same as Hell or that it can be a stepping stone to it. Believers often pray for those who are in this limbo, because it is believed that the prayers of the living can help those in Purgatory to be saved more quickly.
Purgatory is the opportunity for the wicked to become beings of piety, living fully in the fear of God and willing to approach that life they have always dreamed of: eternal life.
It should be noted that in all religions there are different points of view about whether or not there is eternal life and the path that must be followed to achieve it; likewise, the treatment of the wicked differs between religions.
What is meant by ungodly today
Today, the term has been limited to use exclusively in the religious sphere. The most fundamentalist and conservative religious sectors classify as impious all those people who, according to their view, do not respect divine mandates or abide by the precepts that emanate from religious authority.
This worldview can lead many people who are not religious, but who do not consider themselves opponents of religion , to be considered impious for their liberalism . Supporting abortion or contraception can be sufficient grounds for the Church to accuse people of impiety.