We are a Peace Church. We are very small with a long and honourable history in the centuries before and after the Inquisition in the Middle Ages, over  700 years ago. We follow a tradition that's been around for a while.

Now when some people read the word "Cathar" they may read some books that suggest a doctrinal position deviant from historic Christianity. That is not so.  It was not the good Christians who deviated. 

Until a few decades ago, most of the historical references about the good Christians came from Roman Catholic authors. The Inquisition was established by that organization to wipe out the good Christians who claimed a spiritual lineage dating to the Apostolic Church. Several centuries later they also persecuted the Protestant reformers.

The good Christians believe that this group and others like it represent 'Constantinian Christianity,' so named after the Roman Emperor Constantine. It was during his rule that Roman Catholicism came under the influence of human government surrendering its New Testament authority for all time.

Indeed, good Christians have always taken the, view that Roman Catholicism does not represent the doctrine and teachings of the Apostolic Church  in accordance with the Sayings and Teachings of Jesus Christ.

It is perfectly understandable then, that defenders of Roman Catholicism should make every effort to distort the teaching of good Christians as they have  distorted the meaning of the New Testament - the Scriptural basis for all Christians to guide their lives.

So don't misunderstand our position: in an open society people can say  what they want and write what they want, even if it is not true.

But within the church of Christ we must speak about doctrine and the history of all the good Christians who have upheld it over the centuries. There is a Scriptural obligation to call a spade a spade and set the record straight. That is not the same as blind bigotry.

Good Christians have often been called "dualists" or "gnostics" by their critics.  Simply put, believing in two Gods, one good, one bad. Is that what good Christians really believe?

No.

WHAT WE BELIEVE

Here are the fundamentals of good Christian beliefs :

The good Christian believes in one GOD, wholly good, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

The good Christian believes that GOD has revealed Himself  in Jesus Christ.

The good Christian believes that there is only one way to salvation - GOD's way  to us in Jesus Christ, which is discerned by knowledge of faith alone through GOD's grace.

The good Christian believes that Jesus Christ is GOD in appearance and substance;  fully human and fully divine, in a way that we cannot understand, and which Scripture does not fully explain, but decisively different from all other human beings, in kind, not simply in degree.

The good Christian believes that the New Testament is the written Word of GOD, the uniquely inspired testimony to GOD's self-disclosure in human history reaching its peak in the revelation by Jesus Christ.

The good Christian believes that  other ancient writings from the days of the Apostolic Church - even those written prior to the four Gospels and canonical Scripture - have value for spiritual inspiration.

The good Christian believes in the sanctity of all human life based on our creation in the image of GOD and our election by GOD for service in His Kingdom.

The good Christian believes that the mission of the church is to spread the radical good news of salvation by word and deed, to be the light of GOD in a darkened world. This mission calls people of faith to discipleship and obedience in the pursuit of personal and social holiness. 

HEIRS OF APOSTOLIC CHRISTIANITY

Good Christians regard their doctrine as one absolutely centered upon Jesus Christ, in that it is a teaching according to which GOD cannot be known but by a personal Saviour as stated in the New Testament.

Lets use extracts from Zoe Oldenbourg's book, Massacre at Montségur to help set the facts straight.

"The Cathars declared themselves the heirs of a tradition that was older than that held by the Church of Rome - and, by implication, both less contaminated and near in spirit to the Apostolic tradition. They claimed to be the only persons who had kept and cherished the Holy Spirit which Christ had bestowed upon His Church; and it looks as though this claim was at least partially justified. ." pg. 42

"Today we are better informed than they were concerning the practices of the Early Church, and have to admit that the Cathars merely followed a tradition somewhat more ancient than that of the [Roman] Church herself. It was with some appearance of reason that they claimed Rome as the party guilty of 'heresy' through her falling-out from that original purity which had characterized the Church of the Apostles." 
ibid pg. 43

The Schleitheim Confession
Cathars and Scripture