The difference is that Islam proscribes death for apostates very clearly in its laws, whereas catholicism does not. You're on a list, like a birth certificate. In general, you cannot force another person to erase their memory of you, but certainly not killing you would be good.

It's rare in the US, but it does happen in other parts of the world (killed for being apostates).

Not going to comment on anything else, just pointing out the obvious difference in kind here. Death is orders of magnitude worse than having your name on a list.

While no country actually executes people for apostasy from Catholicism today, the prescribed punishment under canon law was death by burning.

That doesn't seem right either. Do you actually have any evidence for what you're saying?

... I mean, what did you think the Spanish Inquisition was up to? Being particularly careless with matches?

For instance, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auto-da-fé

(This wasn't unique to Spain, but Spain was certainly an epicenter, due to a large Jewish population forcibly converted during and after the Reconquista)

I'm not going to excuse the church, but this was actually the civil punishment. The church just declared you an apostate or not, and civil authorities would punish you (BTW, most European countries still have similar laws with just lesser punishments and no church involvement... IIRC, blasphemy is still a prosecutable crime in Germany)

What about people executed for heresy in the Papal States? There are many examples, but the most famous would be Giordano Bruno, burnt at the stake for heresy in Rome in 1600.

The whole "it was the civil authorities not the Church" line doesn't really work there, since the Pope was ultimately in charge of both, even if the two were still nominally distinct.

Even in the case of the Spainish Inquisition, where the Church-va-State distinction was somewhat more real – you have to ask whether the Church encouraged or discouraged the civil authorities from imposing capital punishment on those it convicted of heresy. I think you will find that the answer was very much "encourage", not "discourage" or neutral. "We didn't execute anybody, we just encouraged the government to execute them" is a rather laughable defence.

> – you have to ask whether the Church encouraged or discouraged the civil authorities from imposing capital punishment on those it convicted of heresy

That's literally why I started off my comment with "I'm not going to excuse the church". You're absolutely right that there ought to have been a reckoning with the consequences.

If you can describe exactly what Bruno's heresy was and the effect it had, I'm happy to continue this conversation.

If you can't, then it's just a waste of my time.

The Spanish Inquisition was civil, not church. The link you provided states that explicitly.

I repeat: Do you actually have any evidence for what you're saying?

I mean, it was under the control of the monarch, but used canon law, and was lead by a senior cleric, typically an archbishop or cardinal.

If it helps, though, the Roman Inquisition, an organ of the Church, also liked to burn the odd apostate.

What Canon law are you referring to? What exactly was led by a senior cleric?

Frankly, it sounds as though you are randomly spouting phrases in an attempt to sound educated.

Where did you hear such a thing?

As a Catholic, I regularly attend Church and we have many people (even entire families) who either join after a long period of being away or leave the faith all together. We miss them of course but no one sends them death treats.

Additionally, many people move between denominations.

Perhaps you are confusing those with real cults such as: Christian Science, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormonism, Seventh-day Adventism ?

I can't however speak for how they operate as I haven't studied them or been involved.

The Catholic Church in a number of European countries stopped processing requests to formally deregister people, due to mass departures after the sexual abuse revelations, which may be what they're referring to.

For instance, https://www.notme.ie

Did the Catholic church in Ireland have a register of people who were Catholic? Which other countries have this?

I've just never heard of such a thing.

Generally record-keeping would be on a parish level, but yes, it's normal for Catholic parishes to keep records on this.

Are you referring to a record of Christenings? Like every church everywhere would keep?

There’s a procedure (apostasy). That doesn’t mean they make it easy or that all the small village priests are even aware that it exists.

According to Church themselves, apostasy does not make one leave the Church.

The tests the courts use is whether you can actually physically leave control of the organization. Having your name written down or having a spiritual belief that some ritual is permanent, etc, doesn't count as not being able to leave.

Are you asking the court to make a judgement on theological matters (i.e., the state of your soul)? Surely you can see why they don't care.

Not being able to physically leave would be kidnapping, surely? That would make them a criminal organization, not just a "cult".

Cults are often criminal. The Catholic church doesn't harrass you for money or really reach out at all if you're on its roster. All it is is a record of your having come there, which is their record to keep. This is like saying elementary schools are cuts because they keep your transcripts on file -- a completely ridiculous assertion.

The Catholic Church rapes children in industrial quantities - but we don't consider it criminal because of the good PR it (still) has.