Why does the Ecclesiarchy insist in calling everyone who abandons

Partly, because games Workshop's writing team are mostly comprised of total hacks.

But you could probably justify it with linguistic drift, and a total lack of interest in understanding or categorizing those who transgress the Imperial Creed; lumping them all into one homogenous detestible mass; Heretics, Xenos and Daemons.

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>>50400173
You know the whole Red Scare thing in the States in the 50s and 60s?

Dial that up to 40,000 and set it loose.

The facts and terminology don't matter a damn bit. Apostates, Renegades, Heretics, Recidivists, Iconoclasts, and, I don't know, Atheists are painted with the same brush.

More realistically, the confusion came out of the old Hammer horror films and other pseudo-medieval films where a Witchfinder or a Monk points and shouts "Heretic!"

What a lovely thing to shout. Three syllables, it just rolls off the tongue, and you can really /shout/ the first syllable.

"Apostate" just doesn't sound quite as good. You can /hiss/ it in a menacing manner, but it's not as satisfying to denounce people with it.

So, thanks to horror films starring Vincent Price, comic books, and insufficient pedantry, we have all sorts of heretics in 40k.

And finally, Heresy is a negative definition - "Not Orthodox". So yeah, all those unbelievers and Chaos cultists and secret Pudding God clergy really are heretic - they don't believe in the Imperial Truth. They might /also/ be Apostates, if they renounced their previously held faith.

>>50400173
Doubting the doctrines of the Ecclesiarchy sure sounds a lot like heresy to my ears, Brother-Anon.

>insufficient pedantry
What a horrible, horrible thing

>>50400173
>Dat half-shaved SoB on the far right.
If GW ever actually ever makes new minis for them, I hope we get a variety of hairstyles beyond just the bobcut.

>>50400173
>Apostate was actually a heretic.
I kinda like the idea that the two terms got flipped between now and 40k.
So apostates are called heretics and heretics are apostates.