  thumb|details of the excommunication penalty at the foundling wheel. venice, italy. 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 reception of the sacraments. some protestants use the term disfellowship instead. the word excommunication means putting a specific individual or group out of communion. in some religions, excommunication includes spiritual condemnation of the member or group. excommunication may involve banishment, shunning, and shaming, depending on the religion, the offense that caused excommunication, or the rules or norms of the religious community. the grave act is often revoked in response to sincere penance, which may be manifested through public recantation, sometimes through the sacrament of confession, piety, and/or through mortification of the flesh. __toc__  == christianity == in  jesus says that an offended person should first draw the offender's fault to the offender's attention privately; then, if the offender refuses to listen, bring one or two others, that there may be more than a single witness to the charge; next, if the offender still refuses to listen, bring the matter before the church, and if the offender refuses to listen to the church, treat the offender as "a gentile and a tax collector".  directs the church at corinth to excommunicate a man for sexual immorality (incest). in , the man, having repented and suffered the "punishment by the majority" is restored to the church. fornication is not the only ground for excommunication, according to the apostle: in , paul says, "i am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler - not even to eat with such a one." in , paul writes to "mark those who cause divisions contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned and avoid them." also, in , the writer advises believers that "whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of christ, hath not god. he that abideth in the doctrine of christ, he hath both the father and the son. if there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house [Î¿á¼°ÎºÎ¯Î±Î½, residence or abode, or "inmates of the house" (family)], neither bid him god speed: for he t
Apostasy Beliefs_and_practices_of_Jehovah\'s_Witnesses Buddhist_practices Canon_law Canon_law_(Catholic_Church) Catholic_theology_and_doctrine Christian_behaviour_and_experience Christian_terminology Disengagement_from_religion Eastern_Orthodoxy Heresy_in_Judaism Latter_Day_Saint_doctrines,_beliefs,_and_practices Punishments_in_religion