A true apostate is one that actively opposes the religion, after knowing the doctrines about it and having once been an active member. One can actively oppose by picketing, but teaching that it is wrong and sowing doubts on purpose also qualify as opposing. Also, showing others where they can get Zero Dollar Bills and Void Checks (and Monopoly money) for the Worldwide Pedophile Defense Fund would be in opposition to the religion.
Trouble is, they now define "apostasy" as merely questioning a key doctrine. Even a minor one. That, to me, is not the same as real apostasy--a person can stay in an organization that is 85% correct and valuable, 10% questionable, and 5% incorrect and still get value out of it. They will question the 5% that is wrong, and if they were allowed to simply disregard that portion, all would be well. They treat that as apostasy, however--usually resulting in the person starting to question everything and starting to oppose the whole religion. That they hold families hostage for that last 5% also helps them go from merely questioning the few bad doctrines to actively opposing the religion.
And, this is totally unnecessary. No organization run by people is ever going to be perfect. But, if you are allowed to discuss things, you improve the paradigm. Discussion of the 85% that is good can make it even better. Discussing the 10% that is marginal reduces wasteful doctrines and could prevent stupid rules from developing in the future. And, discussing the 5% that is blatantly wrong eliminates the problems, so the organization gets better (one organization I support is about like this--they allow open discussion, resulting in continuing and ongoing improvements. The only item I could find that was blatantly wrong was encouraging use of aspartame instead of sugar--suggesting using Stevia instead improves it, along with improving their health, without undercutting it. The same suggestion among the witlesses would have been classified "apostate", and undercut the fragile faith.)
