Excommunication is a severe punishment used by religious officials to exclude people from the congregation, most common in Judeo-Christian religions. It involves social ostracism and the denial of participation in religious rites, with some sects believing it is irreversible and leads to punishment in Hell. Church officials tend to be wary of using it and may work with the erring member to reconcile them to the church.
Excommunication, also known as disfellowshipping in some sects, is a form of censure that can be used by religious officials to exclude people from the congregation. This practice is most common in Judeo-Christian religions, particularly Catholicism, and is used as a very severe form of punishment for people who go against Church doctrine. Some of the more notable excommunications include the excommunications of Martin Luther and Elizabeth I of England for their involvement in the Protestant Reformation.
Typically, a senior church official must formally issue an excommunication, sometimes on the recommendation of a regional official. Once excommunicated, someone does not belong to the church. Members of the congregation are barred from praying for him or her, and even the excommunicated are barred from burial in sanctified ground. They are also barred from participating in religious rites, and social ostracism is common for people who have been excommunicated.
In some cases, someone may be able to rejoin the congregation after an excommunication if they confess, show sincere remorse, and do penance. Other Christian sects believe that once someone is excommunicated, they are forever barred from the church. In the case of the Amish, people are subjected to “haven,” in which they are completely rejected by all members of the church community. Once shunned, a former member of an Amish congregation will never be allowed to speak to practicing Amish, including his own family.
Because excommunication is a very severe and in some cases irreversible punishment, church officials tend to be wary of using it. In some faiths, the congregation may work with the erring member of the congregation in an effort to reconcile him to the church. Counseling and prayer sessions may also be used so as to avoid excommunication. For an excommunication to occur, concrete evidence must be presented to confirm that the individual should indeed be expelled from the church.
For many members of Christian sects, excommunication is not just a denial of participation in church rites. It is also a punishment that will live on after death, as many denominations believe that people who have been rejected by the church will face punishment in Hell. The formal condemnation of an excommunication would prevent someone from entering Heaven, whether or not the excommunicator was a decent person, and this is a fate that excommunicators find deeply troubling.
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