do other religions shun?

aoxo

i was wondering if other religions like catholics or baptists shun ex members like the jw's are supposed to shun their ex members.

the_classicist

Catholics used to. Early Christians, at least from the evidence in Paul, did. Other Protestant groups probably used to do so.

Yes but it is reserved for very graves of 'sins', throughout history there were only a handful of individuals who got excommunicated from Catholic church and I would imagine the same goes for most of protestant churches as well. As far as the early church is concern Apostle Paul actually said that person practicing INCEST gets silence treatment (only for awhile until he stops doing it) everyone else just got admonition to be careful because fornicators, thief, ...etc will not inherit god’s heavenly kingdom. WTBS uses the case of acrobatical logic to put even most bizzare of 'sins' such as smoking, 'murmoring' agains elders being 'proud' etc at the same level as INCEST Pauls spoke about. Strange.

bebu

Classisististist, (I'm lithping here over your name) I'm not sure ancient Christians they shunned ex-members, rather that they shunned people who were calling themselves Christians but preaching their own agenda.

I think it is like the general refusal of Christian churches to link up to do religious projects with cult groups like the JWs. Or democrats hosting a meal for republican candidates. It would confuse people, giving the impression that there is harmony between the two, for one reason. I would not particularly want to welcome a JW posse with a dinner, letting them know that I am encouraging them in their endeavor. But I would likely eat with them in other circumstances. (Like, if they were a personal friend or a family member and it wasn't a religious affair.)

But the question was who else shuns? The Amish do. There is a very good documentary called "Devils Playground" which covers about a year of seeing teens work thru their "rumspringe" (run around time), and one gal who returned to the Amish, and then left it again, was completely shunned. Very touching and sad. Great documentary, I highly, highly recommend it!!!!!

The Muslims usually also 'shun' to different degrees... And if they are quite zealous, they might cut off a hand or a head.

bebu

Forscher

throughout history there were only a handful of individuals who got excommunicated from Catholic church

Come again Zagor? During the Spanish Inquisition those executed were usually excommunicated before they were handed over to the secular authorities for execution. There were exeptions to that rule, but they were very few. The same goes for witches executed in Catholic lands. So the number runs into the thousands.
Forscher

jwfacts

Virtually all cults practice shunning, shunning is one of the indicators of a cult.

Of the larger religions Mormons also shun. Seven Day Adventists used to, but Barry said that the stopped shunning about the year 2000, which I would love if someone could confirm.

Catholics call it excommunication, but it is not common.

Amish are considered the worst shunners, due to the fact that they are a small family community living an old fashioned life, so shunning has extreme effects on the victim.

barry

Gday JWs

Just thought i might put you on the straight and narrow.

Im a third generation Adventist and to my knowledge Adventists have never shunned but in the year 2000 It was decided at the general conference held that year that Adventists would no longer excommunicate members because it was thought the excommunication of members may be hurtfull even though excommunicated members have never been shunned.

The most prominate apostate in the SDAs in recent years DR Desmond Ford was never shunned even though he was sacked from his job. In fact soon after his sacking he held meetings in Canberra were the minister of the church I attended went to his meetings where we found many of the people attending were church employees ministers and administrators.

The SDAs have only used excommunication rarely before 2000 and now a member can only be asked to leave.

jwfacts

Thanks Barry,

So excommunication was really just a technicality. I tend to like the concept of the SDAs because they seem to have some of the loving aspects, healthy living and modern feel that the JWs do, without the emotional manipulation.

I noticed that SDAs have been mentioned in the past as a cult, but less so now. What has changed?

jwfacts

This is from Wikipedia about Mormons, a little bit of dejavu

Mormons sometimes stereotype Exmormons as anti-Mormon (Satan stirs up wicked men to oppose the Lord’s work [11] ) by branding them as embittered apostates, [12] and in what they see as their own defense may resort to activist skepticism. Shunning is often the de facto result, which makes the experience even more difficult for the Exmormon. As such, the break from the predominantly ethnocentric Mormon subculture challenges the family and community status for many, as well as their confidence and well-being.

zagor

Forscher, comparing percentage of excommunicated Catholics to percentage of disfellowshipped JW I'm quite comfortable using expression ‘a handful’. But you're right Roman Catholic church did excommunicate (mainly prominent and influential individuals to discourage any heresy among populous)

Still extent of excommunication among JW is one of history's rarities. Even Ray Franz testified in his CoC book that most of Governing Body's session consisted around issues of "is this an disfellowshipping offence". There is an obsession with ultimate punishment among J-dubs.
here is a good run down of excommunication through history http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excommunication#Roman_Catholic_Church
or this one http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05678a.htm

do other religions shun?

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