SACRILEGE is typically defined as "violation or theft of the sacred." It originates from the Latin sacrilegium or sacer (sacred) and lego (to gather or to steal). In addition to the literal theft of sacred objects or the violation of sacred places, sacrilege connotes violation of sacred practices (orthopraxy) and sacred beliefs (orthodoxy). Because the concept of sacrilege is founded upon the distinction between sacred and profane, this entry will begin with a brief overview of the academic distinction between those two terms and their relationship to sacrilege. An overview of different religious approaches to the problem of sacrilege and transgression will follow.

Émile Durkheim (1858–1917) argued that sacred and profane are distinct categories defined only by their absolute opposition. The sacred is that unique category circumscribed by boundaries that differentiate it from ordinary, or profane, reality. However, Durkheim claimed, the sacred is a category created by humans and...