Excommunication is an institutional act of religious
censure used to deprive, suspend, or limit membership in a religious community or to restrict certain rights within it, in particular those of being in
communion with other members of the congregation, and of receiving the
sacrament
A sacrament is a Christianity, Christian Rite (Christianity), rite that is recognized as being particularly important and significant. There are various views on the existence and meaning of such rites. Many Christians consider the sacraments ...
s.
It is practiced by all of the ancient churches (such as the
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
,
Oriental Orthodox churches
The Oriental Orthodox Churches are Eastern Christian churches adhering to Miaphysite Christology, with approximately 60 million members worldwide. The Oriental Orthodox Churches are part of the Nicene Christian tradition, and represent ...
and the
Eastern Orthodox churches
The Eastern Orthodox Church, also called the Orthodox Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 220 million baptized members. It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops via ...
) as well as by other
Christian denominations
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
, but it is also used more generally to refer to similar types of institutional religious exclusionary practices and
shunning among other religious groups. The
Amish
The Amish (; pdc, Amisch; german: link=no, Amische), formally the Old Order Amish, are a group of traditionalist Anabaptist Christian church fellowships with Swiss German and Alsatian origins. They are closely related to Mennonite churches ...
have also been known to excommunicate members that were either seen or known for breaking rules, or questioning the church, a practice known as shunning.
Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The group reports a worldwide membership of approximately 8.7 million adherents involved in ...
use the term disfellowship to refer to their form of excommunication.
The word ''excommunication'' means putting a specific individual or group out of communion. In some denominations, excommunication includes spiritual
condemnation of the member or group. Excommunication may involve
banishment
Exile is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumstance or the rigors of some high purpose. Usually persons and peoples suf ...
, shunning, and
shaming, depending on the group, the offense that caused excommunication, or the rules or norms of the religious community. The grave act is often revoked in response to manifest
repentance
Repentance is reviewing one's actions and feeling contrition or regret for past wrongs, which is accompanied by commitment to and actual actions that show and prove a change for the better.
In modern times, it is generally seen as involving a co ...
.
Bahá'í Faith
![Mirza MuhammedAli-Ghusn-i-Akbar](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/Mirza_MuhammedAli-Ghusn-i-Akbar.gif)
Excommunication among
Bahá'ís is rare and generally not used for transgressions of community standards, intellectual dissent, or conversion to other religions.
Instead, it is the most severe punishment, reserved for suppressing organized dissent that threatens the unity of believers.
''
Covenant-breaker
Covenant-breaker is a term used by Baháʼís to refer to a person who has been excommunicated from the Baháʼí community for breaking the 'Covenant': actively promoting schism in the religion or otherwise opposing the legitimacy of the chain ...
'' is a term used by Bahá'ís to refer to a person who has been excommunicated from the Bahá'í community for breaking the '
Covenant': actively promoting schism in the religion or otherwise opposing the legitimacy of the chain of succession of leadership.
Currently, the
Universal House of Justice
The Universal House of Justice ( fa, بیتالعدل اعظم) is the nine-member supreme ruling body of the Baháʼí Faith. It was envisioned by Baháʼu'lláh, the founder of the Baháʼí Faith, as an institution that could legislate o ...
has the sole authority to declare a person a Covenant-breaker,
and once identified, all Bahá'ís are expected to shun them, even if they are family members.
According to 'Abdu'l Baha Covenant-breaking is a contagious disease. The Bahá'í writings forbid association with Covenant-breakers and Bahá'ís are urged to avoid their literature, thus providing an exception to the Bahá'í principle of ''independent investigation of truth''. Most Bahá'ís are unaware of the small
Bahá'í divisions that exist.
Christianity
The purpose of excommunication is to exclude from the church those members who have behaviors or teachings contrary to the beliefs of a Christian community (
heresy
Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, in particular the accepted beliefs of a church or religious organization. The term is usually used in reference to violations of important religi ...
). It aims to protect members of the church from abuses and allow the offender to recognize their error and repent.
Catholic Church
Within the Catholic Church, there are differences between the discipline of the majority
Latin Church
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, image = San Giovanni in Laterano - Rome.jpg
, imagewidth = 250px
, alt = Façade of the Archbasilica of St. John in Lateran
, caption = Archbasilica of Saint Joh ...
regarding excommunication and that of the
Eastern Catholic Churches
The Eastern Catholic Churches or Oriental Catholic Churches, also called the Eastern-Rite Catholic Churches, Eastern Rite Catholicism, or simply the Eastern Churches, are 23 Eastern Christian autonomous (''sui iuris'') particular churches of th ...
.
Latin Church
Excommunication can be either (automatic, incurred at the moment of committing the offense for which canon law imposes that penalty) or (incurred only when imposed by a legitimate superior or declared as the sentence of an ecclesiastical court).
![Threat of excommunication to thieves of books in the library of the university of Salamanca (Spain)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6f/Threat_of_excommunication_to_thieves_of_books_in_the_library_of_the_university_of_Salamanca_%28Spain%29.jpg)
The Catholic Church teaches in the
Council of Trent
The Council of Trent ( la, Concilium Tridentinum), held between 1545 and 1563 in Trento, Trent (or Trento), now in northern Italian Peninsula, Italy, was the 19th ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. Prompted by the Protestant Reformation ...
that "excommunicated persons are not members of the Church, because they have been cut off by her sentence from the number of her children and belong not to her communion until they repent".
In the papal bull (May 16, 1520),
Pope Leo X
Pope Leo X ( it, Leone X; born Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici, 11 December 14751 December 1521) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 9 March 1513 to his death in December 1521.
Born into the prominent political an ...
condemned
Luther
Luther may refer to:
People
* Martin Luther (1483–1546), German monk credited with initiating the Protestant Reformation
* Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968), American minister and leader in the American civil rights movement
* Luther (give ...
's twenty-third proposition according to which "excommunications are merely external punishments, nor do they deprive a man of the common spiritual prayers of the Church".
Pope Pius VI
Pope Pius VI ( it, Pio VI; born Count Giovanni Angelo Braschi, 25 December 171729 August 1799) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 15 February 1775 to his death in August 1799.
Pius VI condemned the French Revoluti ...
in (August 28, 1794) condemned the notion which maintained that the effect of excommunication is only exterior because of its own nature it excludes only from exterior communion with the Church, as if, said the pope, excommunication were not a spiritual penalty binding in heaven and affecting souls.
[ "Canonists usually treat of excommunication in their commentaries on the Corpus Juris Canonici, at the title De sententia excommunicationis (lib. V, tit. xxxix). Moralists deal with it apropos of the treatise on censures (De Censuris). One of the best works is that of D'Annibale Summula Theologiæ moralis (5th ed., Rome, 1908). For details consult the numerous commentaries on the Constitution Apostolicæ Sedis. Special works by ancient writers: Avila, De censuris (Lyons, 1608); Suarez, De censuris (Coimbra, 1603). Altieri, De censuris ecclesiasticis (Rome, 1618). – Cf. Kober, Der Kirchenbann (Tübingen, 1857)."] The excommunicated person, being excluded from the society of the Church, still bears the indelible mark of Baptism and is subject to the jurisdiction of the Church. They are excluded from engaging in certain activities. These activities are listed in Canon 1331 §1, and prohibit the individual from any ministerial participation in celebrating the sacrifice of the Eucharist or any other ceremonies of worship; celebrating or receiving the sacraments; or exercising any ecclesiastical offices, ministries, or functions.
![Isabelo de los Reyes, Sr](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/95/Isabelo_de_los_Reyes%2C_Sr..jpg)
Under current Catholic canon law, excommunicates remain bound by ecclesiastical obligations such as attending Mass, even though they are barred from receiving the
Eucharist
The Eucharist (; from Greek , , ), also known as Holy Communion and the Lord's Supper, is a Christian rite that is considered a sacrament in most churches, and as an ordinance in others. According to the New Testament, the rite was instit ...
and from taking an active part in the liturgy (reading, bringing the offerings, etc.). "Excommunicates lose rights, such as the right to the sacraments, but they are still bound to the obligations of the law; their rights are restored when they are reconciled through the remission of the penalty."
These are the only effects for those who have incurred a excommunication. For instance, a priest may not refuse Communion publicly to those who are under an automatic excommunication, as long as it has not been officially declared to have been incurred by them, even if the priest knows that they have incurred it—although if the person's offence was a "manifest grave sin", then the priest is obliged to refuse their communion by
canon 915. On the other hand, if the priest knows that excommunication has been imposed on someone or that an automatic excommunication has been declared (and is no longer merely an undeclared automatic excommunication), he is forbidden to administer Holy Communion to that person.
In the
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
, excommunication is normally resolved by a declaration of
repentance
Repentance is reviewing one's actions and feeling contrition or regret for past wrongs, which is accompanied by commitment to and actual actions that show and prove a change for the better.
In modern times, it is generally seen as involving a co ...
, profession of the Creed (if the offense involved heresy) and an Act of Faith, or renewal of obedience (if that was a relevant part of the offending act, i.e., an act of
schism
A schism ( , , or, less commonly, ) is a division between people, usually belonging to an organization, movement, or religious denomination. The word is most frequently applied to a split in what had previously been a single religious body, suc ...
) by the excommunicated person and the lifting of the censure (
absolution) by a priest or bishop empowered to do this. "The absolution can be in the internal (private) forum only, or also in the external (public) forum, depending on whether scandal would be given if a person were privately absolved and yet publicly considered unrepentant."
Eastern Catholic Churches
In the
Eastern Catholic Churches
The Eastern Catholic Churches or Oriental Catholic Churches, also called the Eastern-Rite Catholic Churches, Eastern Rite Catholicism, or simply the Eastern Churches, are 23 Eastern Christian autonomous (''sui iuris'') particular churches of th ...
, excommunication is imposed only by decree, never incurred automatically by excommunication. A distinction is made between minor and major excommunication. Those on whom minor excommunication has been imposed are excluded from receiving the
Eucharist
The Eucharist (; from Greek , , ), also known as Holy Communion and the Lord's Supper, is a Christian rite that is considered a sacrament in most churches, and as an ordinance in others. According to the New Testament, the rite was instit ...
and can also be excluded from participating in the
Divine Liturgy
Divine Liturgy ( grc-gre, Θεία Λειτουργία, Theia Leitourgia) or Holy Liturgy is the Eucharistic service of the Byzantine Rite, developed from the Antiochene Rite of Christian liturgy which is that of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of C ...
. They can even be excluded from entering a church when divine worship is being celebrated there. The
decree
A decree is a legal proclamation, usually issued by a head of state (such as the president of a republic or a monarch), according to certain procedures (usually established in a constitution). It has the force of law. The particular term used for ...
of excommunication must indicate the precise effect of the excommunication and, if required, its duration.
Those under major excommunication are in addition forbidden to receive not only the Eucharist but also the other sacraments, to administer sacraments or sacramentals, to exercise any ecclesiastical offices, ministries, or functions whatsoever, and any such exercise by them is null and void. They are to be removed from participation in the Divine Liturgy and any public celebrations of divine worship. They are forbidden to make use of any privileges granted to them and cannot be given any dignity, office, ministry, or function in the church, they cannot receive any pension or emoluments associated with these dignities etc., and they are deprived of the right to vote or to be elected.
Eastern Orthodox Church
In the
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Eastern Orthodox Church, also called the Orthodox Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 220 million baptized members. It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops via ...
, excommunication is the exclusion of a member from the
Eucharist
The Eucharist (; from Greek , , ), also known as Holy Communion and the Lord's Supper, is a Christian rite that is considered a sacrament in most churches, and as an ordinance in others. According to the New Testament, the rite was instit ...
. It is not expulsion from the churches. This can happen for such reasons as not having confessed within that year; excommunication can also be imposed as part of a penitential period. It is generally done with the goal of restoring the member to full communion. Before an excommunication of significant duration is imposed, the bishop is usually consulted. The Eastern Orthodox do have a means of expulsion, by pronouncing
anathema, but this is reserved only for acts of serious and unrepentant heresy. As an example of this, the
Second Council of Constantinople
The Second Council of Constantinople is the fifth of the first seven ecumenical councils recognized by both the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church. It is also recognized by the Old Catholics and others. Protestant opinions and rec ...
in 553, in its eleventh capitula, declared: "If anyone does not anathematize
Arius
Arius (; grc-koi, Ἄρειος, ; 250 or 256 – 336) was a Cyrenaic presbyter, ascetic, and priest best known for the doctrine of Arianism. His teachings about the nature of the Godhead in Christianity, which emphasized God the Father's un ...
,
Eunomius,
Macedonius,
Apollinaris,
Nestorius,
Eutyches and
Origen
Origen of Alexandria, ''Ōrigénēs''; Origen's Greek name ''Ōrigénēs'' () probably means "child of Horus" (from , "Horus", and , "born"). ( 185 – 253), also known as Origen Adamantius, was an Early Christianity, early Christian scholar, ...
, as well as their impious writings, as also all other heretics already condemned and anathematized by the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, and by the aforesaid four Holy Synods and
f anyone does not equally anathematize
F, or f, is the sixth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''ef'' (pronounced ), and the plural is ''efs''.
Hist ...
all those who have held and hold or who in their impiety persist in holding to the end the same opinion as those heretics just mentioned: let him be anathema."
Lutheran churches
Although Lutheranism technically has an excommunication process, some denominations and congregations do not use it. In the
Smalcald Articles Luther differentiates between the "great" and "small" excommunication. The "small" excommunication is simply barring an individual from the
Lord's Supper
The Eucharist (; from Greek , , ), also known as Holy Communion and the Lord's Supper, is a Christian rite that is considered a sacrament in most churches, and as an ordinance in others. According to the New Testament, the rite was instituted ...
and "other fellowship in the church". While the "great" excommunication excluded a person from both the church and political communities which he considered to be outside the authority of the church and only for civil leaders. A modern Lutheran practice is laid out in the
Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod
The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS), also known as the Missouri Synod, is a traditional, confessional Lutheran denomination in the United States. With 1.8 million members, it is the second-largest Lutheran body in the United States. The LC ...
's 1986 explanation to the
Small Catechism, defined beginning at Questions No. 277–284, in "The Office of Keys".
Many Lutheran denominations operate under the premise that the entire congregation (as opposed to the pastor alone) must take appropriate steps for excommunication, and there are not always precise rules, to the point where individual congregations often set out rules for excommunicating laymen (as opposed to clergy). For example, churches may sometimes require that a
vote
Voting is a method by which a group, such as a meeting or an electorate, can engage for the purpose of making a collective decision or expressing an opinion usually following discussions, debates or election campaigns. Democracies elect holde ...
must be taken at Sunday services; some congregations require that this vote be unanimous.
In the Church of Sweden and the
Church of Denmark, excommunicated individuals are turned out from their parish in front of their congregation.
They are not forbidden, however, to attend church and participate in other acts of devotion, although they are to sit in a place appointed by the priest (which was at a distance from others).
The Lutheran process, though rarely used, has created unusual situations in recent years due to its somewhat
democratic excommunication process. One example was an effort to get
serial killer
A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons,A
*
*
*
* with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three ...
Dennis Rader
Dennis Lynn Rader (born March 9, 1945) is an American serial killer known as BTK (an abbreviation he gave himself, for "bind, torture, kill"), the BTK Strangler or the BTK Killer. Between 1974 and 1991, he killed ten people in Wichita and Par ...
excommunicated from his denomination (the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is a mainline Protestant Lutheran church headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The ELCA was officially formed on January 1, 1988, by the merging of three Lutheran church bodies. , it has approxim ...
) by individuals who tried to "lobby" Rader's fellow church members into voting for his excommunication.
Anglican Communion
Church of England
The Church of England does not have any specific canons regarding how or why a member can be excommunicated, although it has a canon according to which ecclesiastical burial may be refused to someone "declared excommunicate for some grievous and notorious crime and no man to testify to his repentance".
The punishment of imprisonment for being excommunicated from the Church of England was removed from English law in 1963.
Historian Christopher Hill found that, in pre-revolutionary England, excommunication was common but fell into disrepute because it was applied unevenly and could be avoided on payment of fines.
Episcopal Church of the United States of America
The
ECUSA is in the
Anglican Communion
The Anglican Communion is the third largest Christian communion after the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Founded in 1867 in London, the communion has more than 85 million members within the Church of England and other ...
, and shares many canons with the Church of England which would determine its policy on excommunication.
Reformed churches
In the
Reformed Church
Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Cal ...
es, excommunication has generally been seen as the culmination of
church discipline, which is one of the three
marks of the Church Marks of the Church may refer to:
* Marks of the Church (Protestantism)
* Four Marks of the Church
The Four Marks of the Church, also known as the Attributes of the Church, describes four distinctive adjectives of traditional Christian ecclesiolo ...
. The
Westminster Confession of Faith
The Westminster Confession of Faith is a Reformed confession of faith. Drawn up by the 1646 Westminster Assembly as part of the Westminster Standards to be a confession of the Church of England, it became and remains the " subordinate standard" ...
sees it as the third step after "admonition" and "suspension from the sacrament of the Lord's Supper for a season." Yet,
John Calvin
John Calvin (; frm, Jehan Cauvin; french: link=no, Jean Calvin ; 10 July 150927 May 1564) was a French theologian, pastor and reformer in Geneva during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system ...
argues in his ''
Institutes of the Christian Religion'' that church censures do not "consign those who are excommunicated to perpetual ruin and damnation", but are designed to induce repentance, reconciliation and restoration to communion. Calvin notes, "though ecclesiastical discipline does not allow us to be on familiar and intimate terms with excommunicated persons, still we ought to strive by all possible means to bring them to a better mind, and recover them to the fellowship and unity of the Church."
At least one modern Reformed theologian argues that excommunication is not the final step in the disciplinary process.
Jay E. Adams
Jay Edward Adams (January 30, 1929 – November 14, 2020) was an American Presbyterian author who wrote more than 100 books. His books have been translated into 16 languages, and he received his doctorate in preaching.
Nouthetic counseling
Acc ...
argues that in excommunication, the offender is still seen as a brother, but in the final step they become "as the heathen and tax collector" (
Matthew
Matthew may refer to:
* Matthew (given name)
* Matthew (surname)
* ''Matthew'' (ship), the replica of the ship sailed by John Cabot in 1497
* ''Matthew'' (album), a 2000 album by rapper Kool Keith
* Matthew (elm cultivar), a cultivar of the Ch ...
18:17). Adams writes, "Nowhere in the Bible is excommunication (removal from the fellowship of the Lord's Table, according to Adams) equated with what happens in step 5; rather, step 5 is called 'removing from the midst, handing over to Satan,' and the like."
Former Princeton president and theologian,
Jonathan Edwards Jonathan Edwards may refer to:
Musicians
*Jonathan and Darlene Edwards, pseudonym of bandleader Paul Weston and his wife, singer Jo Stafford
*Jonathan Edwards (musician) (born 1946), American musician
** ''Jonathan Edwards'' (album), debut album ...
, addresses the notion of excommunication as "removal from the fellowship of the Lord's Table" in his treatise entitled "The Nature and End of Excommunication". Edwards argues:
"Particularly, we are forbidden such a degree of associating ourselves with (excommunicants), as there is in making them our guests at our tables, or in being their guests at their tables; as is manifest in the text, where we are commanded to have no company with them, no not to eat ..That this respects not eating with them at the Lord's supper, but a common eating, is evident by the words, that the eating here forbidden, is one of the lowest degrees of keeping company, which are forbidden. Keep no company with such a one, saith the apostle, no not to eat – as much as to say, no not in so low a degree as to eat with him. But eating with him at the Lord's supper, is the very highest degree of visible Christian communion. Who can suppose that the apostle meant this: Take heed and have no company with a man, no not so much as in the highest degree of communion that you can have? Besides, the apostle mentions this eating as a way of keeping company which, however, they might hold with the heathen. He tells them, not to keep company with fornicators. Then he informs them, he means not with fornicators of this world, that is, the heathens; but, saith he, 'if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, etc. with such a one keep no company, no not to eat.' This makes it most apparent, that the apostle doth not mean eating at the Lord's table; for so, they might not keep company with the heathens, any more than with an excommunicated person".
Methodism
In the
Methodist Episcopal Church
The Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC) was the oldest and largest Methodist denomination in the United States from its founding in 1784 until 1939. It was also the first religious denomination in the US to organize itself on a national basis. In ...
, individuals were able to be excommunicated following "trial before a jury of his peers, and after having had the privilege of an appeal to a higher court".
Nevertheless, an excommunication could be lifted after sufficient
penance
Penance is any act or a set of actions done out of Repentance (theology), repentance for Christian views on sin, sins committed, as well as an alternate name for the Catholic Church, Catholic, Lutheran, Eastern Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox s ...
.
John Wesley
John Wesley (; 2 March 1791) was an English people, English cleric, Christian theology, theologian, and Evangelism, evangelist who was a leader of a Christian revival, revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The soci ...
, the founder of the Methodist Churches, excommunicated sixty-four members from the Newcastle Methodist society alone for the following reasons:
The
Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection, in its 2014 ''Discipline'', includes "homosexuality, lesbianism, bi-sexuality, bestiality, incest, fornication, adultery, and any attempt to alter one's gender by surgery", as well as remarriage after divorce among its excommunicable offences.
The
Evangelical Wesleyan Church
The Evangelical Wesleyan Church, formerly known as the Evangelical Wesleyan Church of North America, is a Methodist denomination in the conservative holiness movement.
The formation of the Evangelical Wesleyan Church is a part of the history of ...
, in its 2015 ''Discipline'', states that "Any member of our church who is accused of neglect of the means of grace or other duties required by the Word of God, the indulgence of sinful tempers, words or actions, the sowing of dissension, or any other violation of the order and discipline of the church, may, after proper labor and admonition, be censured, placed on probation, or expelled by the official board of the circuit of which he is a member. If he request a trial, however, within thirty dates of the final action of the official board, it shall be granted."
Anabaptist tradition
Amish
Amish
The Amish (; pdc, Amisch; german: link=no, Amische), formally the Old Order Amish, are a group of traditionalist Anabaptist Christian church fellowships with Swiss German and Alsatian origins. They are closely related to Mennonite churches ...
communities practice variations of excommunication known as "shunning". This practice may include isolation from community events or the cessation of all communication.
Mennonites
Mennonite
Mennonites are groups of Anabaptist Christian church communities of denominations. The name is derived from the founder of the movement, Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland. Through his writings about Reformed Christianity during the Radic ...
communities use the "ban", separation and correction on baptized members that fall into sin. Separated members must be avoided or "shunned" until they repent and reform. Shunning must be done in the spirit of moderation and christian charity; the aim is not to destroy but to reform the person.
Hutterites
Hutterite
Hutterites (german: link=no, Hutterer), also called Hutterian Brethren (German: ), are a communal ethnoreligious group, ethnoreligious branch of Anabaptism, Anabaptists, who, like the Amish and Mennonites, trace their roots to the Radical Refor ...
communities use a form of excommunication called "the ban" on baptized members that fall into sin repeatedly.
Baptists
For
Baptists
Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only ( believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compe ...
, excommunication is used as a last resort by denominations and churches for members who do not want to repent of beliefs or behavior at odds with the
confession of faith
A creed, also known as a confession of faith, a symbol, or a statement of faith, is a statement of the shared beliefs of a community (often a religious community) in a form which is structured by subjects which summarize its core tenets.
The ea ...
of the community. The vote of community members, however, can restore a person who has been excluded.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...
(LDS Church) practices excommunication as a penalty for those who commit serious
sin
In a religious context, sin is a transgression against divine law. Each culture has its own interpretation of what it means to commit a sin. While sins are generally considered actions, any thought, word, or act considered immoral, selfish, s ...
s, ''i.e.'', actions that significantly impair the name or moral influence of the church or pose a threat to other people. In 2020, the church ceased using the term "excommunication" and instead refers to "withdrawal of membership". According to the church leadership ''
General Handbook
The ''General Handbook: Serving in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints'' is an on-line book of instructions and policies for leaders and members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). The contents are prepared ...
'',
the purposes of withdrawing membership or imposing membership restrictions are, (1) to help protect others; (2) to help a person access the redeeming power of Jesus Christ through repentance; and (3) to protect the integrity of the Church. The origins of LDS disciplinary procedures and excommunications are traced to a revelation
Joseph Smith
Joseph Smith Jr. (December 23, 1805June 27, 1844) was an American religious leader and founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement. When he was 24, Smith published the Book of Mormon. By the time of his death, 14 years later, he ...
dictated on 9 February 1831, later canonized as
Doctrine and Covenants
The Doctrine and Covenants (sometimes abbreviated and cited as D&C or D. and C.) is a part of the open scriptural canon of several denominations of the Latter Day Saint movement. Originally published in 1835 as Doctrine and Covenants of the Chur ...
, section 42 and codified in the ''General Handbook''.
[Lester E. Bush]
Excommunication and Church Courts: A Note from the General Handbook of Instructions
'' Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought'', Vol 14 no 2, Summer 1981
The LDS Church also practices the lesser sanctions of private counsel and caution and informal and formal membership restrictions. (Informal membership restrictions was formerly known as "probation"; formal membership restrictions was formerly known as "disfellowshipment".)
Formal membership restrictions are used for serious sins that do not rise to the level of membership withdrawal.
Formal membership restriction denies some privileges but does not include a loss of church membership. Once formal membership restrictions are in place, persons may not take the
sacrament
A sacrament is a Christianity, Christian Rite (Christianity), rite that is recognized as being particularly important and significant. There are various views on the existence and meaning of such rites. Many Christians consider the sacraments ...
or enter church
temples
A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...
, nor may they offer public prayers or sermons. Such persons may continue to attend most church functions and are allowed to wear
temple garment
A temple garment, also referred to as garments, the garment of the holy priesthood, or Mormon underwear, is a type of underwear worn by adherents of the Latter Day Saint movement after they have taken part in the endowment ceremony. Garments are ...
s, pay tithes and offerings, and participate in church classes if their conduct is orderly. Formal membership restrictions typically lasts for one year, after which one may be reinstated as a member in good standing.
In the more grievous or recalcitrant cases, withdrawal of membership becomes a disciplinary option.
Such an action is generally reserved for what are seen as the most serious
sin
In a religious context, sin is a transgression against divine law. Each culture has its own interpretation of what it means to commit a sin. While sins are generally considered actions, any thought, word, or act considered immoral, selfish, s ...
s, including committing serious
crime
In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definit ...
s such as murder,
child abuse
Child abuse (also called child endangerment or child maltreatment) is physical, sexual, and/or psychological maltreatment or neglect of a child or children, especially by a parent or a caregiver. Child abuse may include any act or failure to a ...
, and incest; committing
adultery
Adultery (from Latin ''adulterium'') is extramarital sex that is considered objectionable on social, religious, moral, or legal grounds. Although the sexual activities that constitute adultery vary, as well as the social, religious, and legal ...
; involvement in or teaching of
polygamy
Crimes
Polygamy (from Late Greek (') "state of marriage to many spouses") is the practice of marrying multiple spouses. When a man is married to more than one wife at the same time, sociologists call this polygyny. When a woman is married ...
; involvement in
homosexual
Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to peop ...
conduct;
apostasy
Apostasy (; grc-gre, ἀποστασία , 'a defection or revolt') is the formal disaffiliation from, abandonment of, or renunciation of a religion by a person. It can also be defined within the broader context of embracing an opinion that i ...
; participation in an
abortion
Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pregn ...
; teaching false doctrine; or openly criticizing church leaders. The ''General Handbook'' states that formally joining another church constitutes apostasy and is worthy of membership withdrawal; however, merely attending another church does not constitute apostasy.
A withdrawal of membership can occur only after a formal
church membership council. Formerly called a "disciplinary council" or a "church court", the councils were renamed to avoid focusing on guilt and instead to emphasize the availability of repentance.
[
The decision to withdraw the membership of a Melchizedek priesthood holder is generally the province of the leadership of a ]stake
Stake may refer to:
Entertainment
* '' Stake: Fortune Fighters'', a 2003 video game
* ''The Stake'', a 1915 silent short film
* "The Stake", a 1977 song by The Steve Miller Band from '' Book of Dreams''
* ''Stakes'' (miniseries), a Cartoon Netw ...
.[ In such a disciplinary council, the stake presidency and, sometimes in more difficult cases, the stake high council attend.][ It is possible to appeal a decision of a stake membership council to the church's First Presidency.]
For females and for male members not initiated into the Melchizedek priesthood, a ward membership council is held.[ In such cases, a ]bishop
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...
determines whether withdrawal of membership or a lesser sanction is warranted. He does this in consultation with his two counselors, with the bishop making the final determination after prayer. The decision of a ward membership council can be appealed to the stake president.
The following list of variables serves as a general set of guidelines for when membership withdrawal or lesser action may be warranted, beginning with those more likely to result in severe sanction:[
#Violation of covenants: Covenants are made in conjunction with specific ordinances in the LDS Church. Violated covenants that might result in excommunication are usually those surrounding marriage covenants, temple covenants, and priesthood covenants.
#Position of trust or authority: The person's position in the church hierarchy factors into the decision. It is considered more serious when a sin is committed by an area seventy; a stake, mission, or temple president; a ]bishop
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...
; a patriarch
The highest-ranking bishops in Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Catholic Church (above major archbishop and primate), the Hussite Church, Church of the East, and some Independent Catholic Churches are termed patriarchs (and in certai ...
; or a full-time missionary.
#Repetition: Repetition of a sin is more serious than a single instance.
#Magnitude: How often, how many individuals were impacted, and who is aware of the sin factor into the decision.
#Age, maturity, and experience: Those who are young in age, or immature in their understanding, are typically afforded leniency.
#Interests of the innocent: How the discipline will impact innocent family members may be considered.
#Time between transgression and confession: If the sin was committed in the distant past, and there has not been repetition, leniency may be considered.
#Voluntary confession: If a person voluntarily confesses the sin, leniency is suggested.
#Evidence of repentance: Sorrow for sin, and demonstrated commitment to repentance, as well as faith in Jesus Christ all play a role in determining the severity of discipline.
Notices of withdrawal of membership may be made public, especially in cases of apostasy, where members could be misled.[ However, the specific reasons for individual withdrawal of membership are typically kept confidential and are seldom made public by church leadership.
Those who have their membership withdrawn lose the right to partake of the ]sacrament
A sacrament is a Christianity, Christian Rite (Christianity), rite that is recognized as being particularly important and significant. There are various views on the existence and meaning of such rites. Many Christians consider the sacraments ...
. Such persons are permitted to attend church meetings but participation is limited: they cannot offer public prayers, preach sermons, and cannot enter temples
A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...
. Such individuals are also prohibited from wearing or purchasing temple garment
A temple garment, also referred to as garments, the garment of the holy priesthood, or Mormon underwear, is a type of underwear worn by adherents of the Latter Day Saint movement after they have taken part in the endowment ceremony. Garments are ...
s and from paying tithe
A tithe (; from Old English: ''teogoþa'' "tenth") is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Today, tithes are normally voluntary and paid in cash or cheques or more r ...
s. A person whose membership has been withdrawn may be re-baptized after a waiting period of at least one year and sincere repentance
Repentance is reviewing one's actions and feeling contrition or regret for past wrongs, which is accompanied by commitment to and actual actions that show and prove a change for the better.
In modern times, it is generally seen as involving a co ...
, as judged by a series of interviews with church leaders.
Some critics have charged that LDS Church leaders have used the threat of membership withdrawal to silence or punish church members and researchers who disagree with established policy and doctrine, who study or discuss controversial subjects, or who may be involved in disputes with local, stake leaders or general authorities; see, e.g., Brian Evenson, a former BYU
Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day S ...
professor and writer whose fiction came under criticism from BYU officials and LDS Leadership.[BYU Professor Under Fire for Violent Book]
", '' Sunstone'', August 1995. Another notable case of excommunication from the LDS Church was the "September Six
The September Six were six members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) who were excommunicated or disfellowshipped by the church in September 1993, allegedly for publishing scholarly work against or criticizing church do ...
", a group of intellectuals and professors, five of whom were excommunicated and the sixth disfellowshipped. However, church policy dictates that local leaders are responsible for membership withdrawal, without influence from church headquarters. The church thus argues that this policy is evidence against any systematic persecution of scholars or dissenters. Data shows per-capita excommunication rates among the LDS Church have varied dramatically over the years, from a low of about 1 in 6,400 members in the early 1900s to one in 640 by the 1970s, an increase which has been speculatively attributed to "informal guidance from above" in enforcing the growing list of possible transgressions added to ''General Handbook'' editions over time.[
]
Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The group reports a worldwide membership of approximately 8.7 million adherents involved in ...
practice a form of excommunication, using the term "disfellowshipping", in cases where a member is believed to have unrepentantly committed one or more of several documented "serious sins".
When a member confesses to, or is accused of, a ''serious sin'', a ''judicial committee'' of at least three elders is formed. This committee investigates the case and determines the magnitude of the sin committed. If the person is deemed guilty of a disfellowshipping offense, the committee then decides, on the basis of the person's attitude and "works befitting repentance".
Disfellowshipping is a severing of friendly relationships between all Jehovah's Witnesses and the disfellowshipped person. Interaction with extended family is typically restricted to a minimum, such as presence at the reading of wills and providing essential care for the elderly. Within a household, typical family contact may continue, but without spiritual fellowship such as family Bible study and religious discussions. Parents of disfellowshipped minors living in the family home may continue to attempt to convince the child about the group's teachings. Jehovah's Witnesses believe that this form of discipline encourages the disfellowshipped individual to conform to biblical standards and prevents the person from influencing other members of the congregation.
Along with breaches of the Witnesses' moral code, openly disagreeing with the teachings of Jehovah's Witnesses is considered grounds for shunning. These persons are labeled as "apostates" and are described in Watch Tower Society literature as "mentally diseased".[''The Watchtower'', 15 January 2006, pp. 21–25] Descriptions of "apostates" appearing in the Witnesses literature have been the subject of investigation in the UK to determine if they violate religious hatred laws. Sociologist Andrew Holden claims many Witnesses who would otherwise defect because of disillusionment with the organization and its teachings, remain affiliated out of fear of being shunned and losing contact with friends and family members.[Pratt, International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, 1:192.] Shunning employs what is known ''as relational aggression'' in psychological literature. When used by church members and member-spouse parents against excommunicant parents it contains elements of what psychologists call ''parental alienation''. Extreme shunning may cause trauma to the shunned (and to their dependents) similar to what is studied in the psychology of torture.[
Disassociation is a form of shunning where a member expresses verbally or in writing that they do not wish to be associated with Jehovah's Witnesses, rather than for having committed any specific 'sin'. Elders may also decide that an individual has disassociated, without any formal statement by the individual, by actions such as accepting a blood transfusion, or for joining another religious or military organization. Individuals who are deemed by the elders to have disassociated are given no right of appeal.
Each year, congregation elders are instructed to consider meeting with disfellowshipped individuals to determine changed circumstances and encourage them to pursue reinstatement. Reinstatement is not automatic after a certain time period, nor is there a minimum duration; disfellowshipped persons may talk to elders at any time but must apply in writing to be considered for reinstatement into the congregation. Elders consider each case individually, and are instructed to ensure "that sufficient time has passed for the disfellowshipped person to prove that his profession of repentance is genuine". A judicial committee meets with the individual to determine their repentance, and if this is established, the person is reinstated into the congregation and may participate with the congregation in their formal ministry (such as house-to-house preaching).
A Witness who has been formally reproved or reinstated cannot be appointed to any ''special privilege of service'' for at least one year. Serious sins involving child sex abuse permanently disqualify the sinner from appointment to any congregational ''privilege of service'', regardless of whether the sinner was convicted of any secular crime.
]
Christadelphians
Similarly to many groups having their origins in the 1830s Restoration Movement, Christadelphians call their form of excommunication "disfellowshipping", though they do not practice "shunning". Disfellowshipping can occur for moral reasons, changing beliefs, or (in some ecclesias) for not attending communion (referred to as "the emblems" or "the breaking of bread").
In such cases, the person involved is usually required to discuss the issues. If they do not conform, the church ('meeting' or 'ecclesia') is recommended by the management committee ("Arranging Brethren") to vote on disfellowshipping the person. These procedures were formulated 1863 onwards by early Christadelphians, and then in 1883 codified by Robert Roberts in ''A Guide to the Formation and Conduct of Christadelphian Ecclesias'' (colloquially "The Ecclesial Guide"). However Christadelphians justify and apply their practice not only from this document but also from passages such as the exclusion in 1Co.5 and recovery in 2Co.2.
Christadelphians typically avoid the term "excommunication" which many associate with the Catholic Church; and may feel the word carries implications they do not agree with, such as undue condemnation and punishment, as well as failing to recognise the remedial intention of the measure.
* Behavioural cases. Many cases regarding moral issues tend to involve relational matters such as marriage outside the faith, divorce and remarriage (which is considered adultery in some circumstances by some ecclesias), or homosexuality. Reinstatement for moral issues is determined by the ecclesia's assessment of whether the individual has "turned away" from (ceased) the course of action considered immoral by the church. This can be complex when dealing with cases of divorce and subsequent remarriage, with different positions adopted by different ecclesias, but generally within the main "Central" grouping, such cases can be accommodated.
* Doctrinal cases. Changes of belief on what Christadelphians call "first principle" doctrines are difficult to accommodate unless the individual agrees to not teach or spread them, since the body has a documented Statement of Faith which informally serves as a basis of ecclesial membership and interecclesial fellowship. Those who are disfellowshipped for reasons of differing belief rarely return, because they are expected to conform to an understanding with which they do not agree. Holding differing beliefs on fundamental matters is considered as error and apostasy
Apostasy (; grc-gre, ἀποστασία , 'a defection or revolt') is the formal disaffiliation from, abandonment of, or renunciation of a religion by a person. It can also be defined within the broader context of embracing an opinion that i ...
, which can limit a person's salvation. However, in practice disfellowship for doctrinal reasons is now unusual.
In the case of adultery and divorce, the passage of time usually means a member can be restored if he or she wants to be. In the case of ongoing behaviour, cohabitation, homosexual activity, then the terms of the suspension have not been met.
The mechanics of "refellowship" follow the reverse of the original process; the individual makes an application to the "ecclesia", and the "Arranging Brethren" give a recommendation to the members who vote. If the "Arranging Brethren" judge that a vote may divide the ecclesia, or personally upset some members, they may seek to find a third party ecclesia which is willing to "refellowship" the member instead. According to the Ecclesial Guide a third party ecclesia may also take the initiative to "refellowship" another meeting's member. However this cannot be done unilaterally, as this would constitute heteronomy
Heteronomy refers to action that is influenced by a force outside the individual, in other words the state or condition of being ruled, governed, or under the sway of another, as in a military occupation.
Immanuel Kant, drawing on Jean-Jacques Rou ...
over the autonomy
In developmental psychology and moral, political, and bioethical philosophy, autonomy, from , ''autonomos'', from αὐτο- ''auto-'' "self" and νόμος ''nomos'', "law", hence when combined understood to mean "one who gives oneself one's ...
of the original ecclesia's members.
Society of Friends (Quakers)
Among many of the Society of Friends groups (Quakers
Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abil ...
) one is ''read out of meeting'' for behaviour inconsistent with the sense of the meeting. In Britain a meeting may record a minute of disunity. However it is the responsibility of each meeting, quarterly meeting, and yearly meeting, to act with respect to their own members. For example, during the Vietnam War many Friends were concerned about Friend Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
's position on war which seemed at odds with their beliefs; however, it was the responsibility of Nixon's own meeting, the East Whittier Meeting of Whittier, California, to act if indeed that meeting felt the leading. They did not.
In the 17th century, before the founding of abolitionist societies, Friends who too forcefully tried to convince their coreligionists of the evils of slavery were read out of meeting. Benjamin Lay was read out of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting for this. During the American Revolution over 400 Friends were read out of meeting for their military participation or support.
Iglesia ni Cristo
practices expulsion of members it deems to have gravely sinned or gone against the teachings and doctrines of the church. The Sanggunian, the church's council, has jurisdiction to expel members from the church. People expelled by the church are referred to as ''dismissed'' (). Offenses that may be grounds for expulsion include marrying a non-member, having a romantic relationship with a non-member, becoming pregnant out of wedlock (unless the couple marries before the child is born) and most especially disagreeing with the church administration. An expelled member can be re-admitted by pledging obedience to the church administration and its rules, values and teachings.
Unitarian Universalism
Unitarian Universalism
Unitarian Universalism (UU) is a liberal religion characterized by a "free and responsible search for truth and meaning". Unitarian Universalists assert no creed, but instead are unified by their shared search for spiritual growth, guided by a ...
, being a liberal religious group and a congregational denomination, has a wide diversity of opinions and sentiments. Nonetheless, Unitarian Universalists have had to deal with disruptive individuals. Congregations which had no policies on disruptive individuals have sometimes found themselves having to create such policies, up to (and including) expulsion.
By the late 1990s, several churches were using the West Shore UU Church's policy as a model. If someone is threatening, disruptive, or distracting from the appeal of the church to its membership, a church using this model has three recommended levels of response to the offending individual. While the first level involves dialogue between a committee or clergy member and the offender, the second and third levels involve expulsion, either from the church itself or a church activity.
Buddhism
There is no direct equivalent to excommunication in Buddhism
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...
. However, in the Theravadan
''Theravāda'' () ( si, ථේරවාදය, my, ထေရဝါဒ, th, เถรวาท, km, ថេរវាទ, lo, ເຖຣະວາດ, pi, , ) is the most commonly accepted name of Buddhism's oldest existing school. The school' ...
monastic community monks can be expelled from monasteries for heresy or other acts. In addition, monks have four vows, called the four defeats, which are abstaining from sexual intercourse, stealing, murder, and lying about spiritual gains (e.g., having special power or ability to perform miracles). If any one is broken, the monk is automatically a layman again and can never become a monk in his or her current life.
Most Japanese Buddhist sects hold ecclesiastical authority over their followers and have their own rules for expelling members of the sangha, lay or bishopric. The lay Japanese Buddhist organization Sōka Gakkai was expelled from the Nichiren Shoshu
Nichiren (16 February 1222 – 13 October 1282) was a Japanese Buddhist priest and philosopher of the Kamakura period.
Nichiren declared that the Lotus Sutra alone contains the highest truth of Buddhist teachings suited for the Third Age of B ...
sect in 1991.
Hinduism
Hinduism
Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...
is too diverse to be seen as a homogenous and monolithic religion. It is often described an unorganised and syncretist
Syncretism () is the practice of combining different beliefs and various schools of thought. Syncretism involves the merging or assimilation of several originally discrete traditions, especially in the theology and mythology of religion, thu ...
religion with a conspicuous absence of any listed doctrines. There are multiple religious institution
Religious activities generally need some infrastructure to be conducted. For this reason, there generally exist religion-supporting organizations, which are some form of organization that manages:
* the upkeep of places of worship, such as ...
s (equivalent to Christian ecclesia
Ecclesia (Greek: ἐκκλησία ''ekklēsia'') may refer to:
Organizations
* Ecclesia (ancient Greece) or Ekklēsia, the principal assembly of ancient Greece during its Golden Age
* Ecclesia (Sparta), the citizens' assembly of Sparta, often w ...
) within Hinduism that teach slight variations of Dharma
Dharma (; sa, धर्म, dharma, ; pi, dhamma, italic=yes) is a key concept with multiple meanings in Indian religions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism and others. Although there is no direct single-word translation for '' ...
and Karma
Karma (; sa, कर्म}, ; pi, kamma, italic=yes) in Sanskrit means an action, work, or deed, and its effect or consequences. In Indian religions, the term more specifically refers to a principle of cause and effect, often descriptivel ...
, hence Hinduism has no concept of excommunication and hence no Hindu may be ousted from the Hindu religion, though a person may easily lose caste
Caste is a form of social stratification characterised by endogamy, hereditary transmission of a style of life which often includes an occupation, ritual status in a hierarchy, and customary social interaction and exclusion based on cultura ...
status through gramanya Gramanya (Devanagari:ग्रामण्य,) refers to a dispute or discussion related to castes in Maharashtra in the past few centuries that related to supposed violation of the Brahmanical ritual code of behavior.
Overview
Gramanya is a cryst ...
for a very wide variety of infringements of caste prohibitions. This may or may not be recoverable. However, some of the modern organised sects within Hinduism may practice something equivalent to excommunication today, by ousting a person from their own sect.
In medieval and early-modern times (and sometimes even now) in South Asia, excommunication from one's ''caste
Caste is a form of social stratification characterised by endogamy, hereditary transmission of a style of life which often includes an occupation, ritual status in a hierarchy, and customary social interaction and exclusion based on cultura ...
'' ('' jāti'' or ''varna'') used to be practiced (by the caste-councils) and was often with serious consequences, such as abasement of the person's caste status and even throwing him into the sphere of the untouchables or bhangi
Chuhra is a Dalit caste in India and Pakistan. Populated regions include the Punjab region of India and Pakistan, as well as Uttar Pradesh in India, among other parts of the Indian subcontinent such as southern India. Their traditional occupatio ...
. In the 19th century, a Hindu faced excommunication for going abroad, since it was presumed he/she would be forced to break caste restrictions and, as a result, become polluted.
After excommunication, it would depend upon the caste-council whether they would accept any form of repentance (ritual or otherwise) or not. Such current examples of excommunication in Hinduism are often more political or social rather than religious, for example the excommunication of lower castes for refusing to work as scavengers in Tamil Nadu.
Another example of caste-related violence and discrimination occurred in the case of the Gupti Ismailis
Isma'ilism ( ar, الإسماعيلية, al-ʾIsmāʿīlīyah) is a branch or sub-sect of Shia Islam. The Isma'ili () get their name from their acceptance of Imam Isma'il ibn Jafar as the appointed spiritual successor (imām) to Ja'far al-Sa ...
from the Hindu Kachhiya caste. Interestingly, Hindu members of this caste began prayers with the inclusion of the mantra “ OM, by the command, in the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful” (''om farmānjī bi’smi’l-lāh al-raḥmān al-raḥīm''), but never found it objectionable or Islamic. However, in the early 1930s, after some conflict with caste members due to their profession of allegiance to the Ismaili Imam, this group, known as the Guptis, were excommunicated from the caste completely as they appeared to be breaking caste solidarity. This was also significant for the Gupti community as, for the first time, they could be identified as a distinct group based on their religious persuasion. Some of the more daring Guptis also abandoned their former practice of pious circumspection (''taqiyya'') as Hindus, claiming that since they had been excommunicated, the caste no longer had any jurisdiction over their actions.
An earlier example of excommunication in Hinduism is that of Shastri Yagnapurushdas
Shastriji Maharaj (31 January 1865 – 10 May 1951), born Dungar Patel and ordained Shastri Yagnapurushdas, was a swami of the Swaminarayan Sampradaya and founder of the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS). Several branch ...
, who voluntarily left and was later expelled from the Vadtal Gadi
The Laxminarayan Dev Gadi ( Gujarati:- લક્ષ્મીનારાયણ દેવ ગાદી) is one of the two gadis (diocese) that together form the Swaminarayan Sampraday. It is headquartered at the Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, Vadtal ...
of the Swaminarayan Sampraday
The Swaminarayan Sampradaya, also known as Swaminarayan Hinduism and Swaminarayan movement, is a Hindu Vaishnava sampradaya rooted in Ramanuja's Vishishtadvaita, characterized by the Bhakti, worship of its Charismatic authority, charismati ...
by the then Vadtal acharya in 1906. He went on to form his own institution, ''Bochasanwasi Swaminarayan Sanstha'' or ''BSS'' (now BAPS) claiming Gunatitanand Swami was the rightful spiritual successor to Swaminarayan
Swaminarayan (IAST: ', 3 April 1781 – 1 June 1830), also known as Sahajanand Swami, was a yogi and Asceticism, ascetic, who is believed by followers to be a manifestation of God Krishna, or as the highest Theophany, manifestation of ...
.
Sikhism
''Patit Patit ( Punjabi: ਪਤਿਤ ) is a term which refers to a person who has been initiated into the Sikh religion, but violates the religion's precepts. The term is sometimes translated as apostate.
Its legal definition as inserted in the Sikh Gurd ...
'' is a Sikh term which is sometimes translated into English as apostate. It refers to a person who initiated
Initiation is a rite of passage marking entrance or acceptance into a group or society. It could also be a formal admission to adulthood in a community or one of its formal components. In an extended sense, it can also signify a transformation ...
into Sikh religion
Sikhism (), also known as Sikhi ( pa, ਸਿੱਖੀ ', , from pa, ਸਿੱਖ, lit=disciple', 'seeker', or 'learner, translit=Sikh, label=none),''Sikhism'' (commonly known as ''Sikhī'') originated from the word ''Sikh'', which comes fro ...
, but violated the religious rules of Sikhi. The Sikh Rehat Maryada (Code of Conduct), Section Six states the transgressions which cause a person to become a ''patit'':
* Dishonouring the hair
Hair is a protein filament that grows from follicles found in the dermis. Hair is one of the defining characteristics of mammals.
The human body, apart from areas of glabrous skin, is covered in follicles which produce thick terminal and f ...
;
* Eating the meat of an animal slaughtered the Kutha way;
* Cohabiting with a person other than one's spouse;
* Using an intoxicant (such as smoking, drinking alcohol, using recreational drugs or tobacco)
These four kurahit causes of apostasy were first listed by Guru Gobind Singh
Guru Gobind Singh (; 22 December 1666 – 7 October 1708), born Gobind Das or Gobind Rai the tenth Sikh Guru, a spiritual master, warrior, poet and philosopher. When his father, Guru Tegh Bahadur, was executed by Aurangzeb, Guru Gobind Sing ...
in his 52 hukams (commandments).
Islam
Since there has been no universally and univocally recognized religious authority among the many Islamic denominations
Islamic schools and branches have different understandings of Islam. There are many different sects or denominations, schools of Islamic jurisprudence, and schools of Islamic theology, or ''ʿaqīdah'' (creed). Within Islamic groups themselves ...
that have emerged throughout history, papal excommunication has no exact equivalent in Islam, at least insofar as the attitudes of any conflicting religious authorities with regard to an individual or another sect are judged to be coordinate, not subordinate to one another. Nonetheless, condemning heterodoxy and punishing heretics through shunning and ostracism is comparable with the practice in non-Catholic Christian faiths.
Islamic theologians commonly employ two terms when describing measurements to be taken against schismatics and heresy: هَجْر (''hajr'', "abandoning") and تَكْفِير ('' takfīr'', "making or declaring to be a nonbeliever"). The former (هَجْر, ''hajr'') signifies the act of abandoning somewhere (such as migration, as in the Islamic prophet's journey out of Mecca, which is called al-Hijra ("the (e)migration")) or someone (used in the Qur'an in the case of disciplining a dissonant or disobedient wife or avoiding a harmful person). The latter (تَكْفِير, ''takfīr'') means a definitive declaration that denounces a person as a kāfir ("infidel"). However, because such a charge would entail serious consequences for the accused, who would then be deemed to be a مُرْتَدّ (''murtadd'', "a backslider; an apostate), less extreme denunciations, such as an accusation of بِدْعَة (''bidʽah'', " eviantinnovation; heresy") followed by shunning and excommunication have historically preponderated over apostasy trials.
'' Takfīr'' has often been practiced through the courts. More recently, cases have taken place where individuals have been considered nonbelievers. These decisions followed lawsuits against individuals, mainly in response to their writings that some have viewed as anti-Islamic. The most famous cases are of Salman Rushdie
Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie (; born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born British-American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern and Wes ...
, Nasr Abu Zayd
Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd ( ar, نصر حامد أبو زيد, ; also Abu Zaid or Abu Zeid; July 10, 1943 – July 5, 2010) was an Egyptian Quranic thinker, author, academic and one of the leading liberal theologians in Islam. He is famous for his proj ...
, Nawal El-Saadawi
Nawal El Saadawi ( ar, نوال السعداوي, , 22 October 1931 – 21 March 2021) was an Egyptian feminist writer, activist and physician. She wrote many books on the subject of women in Islam, paying particular attention to the practice ...
, and of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. The repercussions of such cases have included divorce, since under traditional interpretations of Islamic law, Muslim women are not permitted to marry non-Muslim men.
Judaism
'' Herem'' is the highest ecclesiastical censure in Judaism
Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in the ...
. It is the total exclusion of a person from the Jewish community. Except for cases in the Charedi
Haredi Judaism ( he, ', ; also spelled ''Charedi'' in English; plural ''Haredim'' or ''Charedim'') consists of groups within Orthodox Judaism that are characterized by their strict adherence to ''halakha'' (Jewish law) and traditions, in oppos ...
community, ''cherem'' stopped existing after The Enlightenment, when local Jewish communities lost their political autonomy, and Jews were integrated into the gentile nations in which they lived. A ''siruv
A ''shtar siruv'' (also spelled ''seruv'') is a form of contempt of court order issued by a ''beth din'' (rabbinical court) in an effort to compel action by an individual.
The ''siruv'' has been described as a form of '' cherem'' (which combines c ...
'' order, equivalent to a contempt of court
Contempt of court, often referred to simply as "contempt", is the crime of being disobedient to or disrespectful toward a court of law and its officers in the form of behavior that opposes or defies the authority, justice, and dignity of the cour ...
, issued by a Rabbinical court may also limit religious participation.
Rabbinical conferences of movements do expel members from time to time, but sometimes choose the lesser penalty of censuring the offending rabbi. Between 2010 and 2015, the Reform Jewish
Reform Judaism, also known as Liberal Judaism or Progressive Judaism, is a major Jewish denomination that emphasizes the evolving nature of Judaism, the superiority of its ethical aspects to its ceremonial ones, and belief in a continuous searc ...
Central Conference of American Rabbis
The Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR), founded in 1889 by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, is the principal organization of Reform rabbis in the United States and Canada. The CCAR is the largest and oldest rabbinical organization in the world. I ...
expelled six rabbis, the Orthodox Jewish
Orthodox Judaism is the collective term for the traditionalist and theologically conservative branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as revealed by God to Moses on M ...
Rabbinical Council of America expelled three, and the Conservative Jewish
Conservative Judaism, known as Masorti Judaism outside North America, is a Jewish religious movement which regards the authority of ''halakha'' (Jewish law) and traditions as coming primarily from its people and community through the generatio ...
Rabbinical Assembly expelled one, suspended three, and caused one to resign without eligibility for reinstatement. While the CCAR and RCA were relatively shy about their reasons for expelling rabbis, the RA was more open about its reasons for kicking rabbis out. Reasons for expulsion from the three conferences include sexual misconduct, failure to comply with ethics investigations, setting up conversion groups without the conference's approval, stealing money from congregations, other financial misconduct, and getting arrested.
Judaism, like Unitarian Universalism, tends towards congregationalism, and so decisions to exclude from a community of worship often depend on the congregation. Congregational bylaws sometimes enable the board of a synagogue to ask individuals to leave or not to enter.
See also
* Banishment in the Bible Banishment or exile can be a form of punishment. It means to be away from one's home (i.e. city, state or country) while either being explicitly refused permission to return and/or being threatened by prison or death upon return. It is a common them ...
* Disconnection
* Excommunication of actors by the Catholic Church
This article is about the relationship between the Catholic Church and theatre.
Overview
Many bishops, priests, and monks have strongly condemned theatrical amusements, and they even declared the actors to be 'instruments of Satan', 'a curse to ...
* Interdict
* List of people excommunicated by the Catholic Church
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby union ...
Notes
References
* ''Encyclopedia of American Religions'', by J. Gordon Melton
John Gordon Melton (born September 19, 1942) is an American religious scholar who was the founding director of the Institute for the Study of American Religion and is currently the Distinguished Professor of American Religious History with the Ins ...
* Ludlow, Daniel H. ed, ''Encyclopedia of Mormonism'', Macmillan Publishing, 1992.
* Esau, Alvin J., "The Courts and the Colonies: The Litigation of Hutterite Church Disputes", Univ of British Columbia Press, 2004.
* Gruter, Margaret, and Masters Roger
''Ostracism: A Social and Biological Phenomenon, (Amish) Ostracism on Trial: The Limits of Individual Rights''
Gruter Institute
, 1984.
* Beck, Martha N., ''Leaving the Saints: How I Lost the Mormons and Found My Faith'', Crown, 2005.
* Stammer, Larry B., "Mormon Author Says He's Facing Excommunication", ''Los Angeles Times'', Los Angeles, CA.: 9 December 2004. p. A.34.
* D'anna, Lynnette, "Post-Mennonite Women Congregate to Address Abuse", ''Herizons'', 3/1/93.
* Anonymous, "Atlanta Mennonite congregation penalized over gays", ''The Atlanta Journal the Atlanta Constitution'', Atlanta, GA: 2 January 1999. p. F.01.
* Garrett, Ottie, Garrett Irene, ''True Stories of the X-Amish: Banned, Excommunicated, Shunned'', Horse Cave KY: Nue Leben, Inc., 1998.
* Garret, Ruth, Farrant Rick, ''Crossing Over: One Woman's Escape from Amish Life'', Harper San Francisco, 2003.
* Hostetler, John A. (1993), ''Amish Society'', The Johns Hopkins University Press: Baltimore.
* MacMaster, Richard K. (1985), ''Land, Piety, Peoplehood: The Establishment of Mennonite Communities in America 1683–1790'', Herald Press: Kitchener & Scottdale.
* Scott, Stephen (1996), ''An Introduction to Old Order and Conservative Mennonite Groups'', Good Books: Intercourse, Pennsylvania.
* Juhnke, James, ''Vision, Doctrine, War: Mennonite Identity and Organization in America, 1890–1930'', (The Mennonite Experience in America #3), Scottdale, PA, Herald Press, p. 393, 1989.
External links
''Excommunication, the Ban, Church Discipline and Avoidance'' (from ''Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia'' Online)
Ostracism on Trial: The Limits of Individual Rights (Amish)
Jehovah's Witnesses press release regarding expulsion of child molesters
{{Investiture Controversy
Investiture Controversy
Disengagement from religion
Punishments in religion
Church discipline