Excommunication

Excommunication is a religious act used to take off or suspend membership in a religious community.

The word literally means out of communion, or no longer in communion.  In some churches, excommunication includes the belief that the person who was exocommunicated is going to Hell. Sometimes punishment  follow excommunication; these include being banned, shunning, and shaming, depending on the group's religion or religious community.

 Related pages 
 Takfiri

References
Encyclopedia of American Religions, by J. Gordon Melton 
 Ludlow, Daniel H. ed, Encyclopedia of Mormonism, Macmillan Publishing, 1992.

 Other websites 
 De Fide, a non-profit association, uses Canon Law to defend the Roman Catholic Church from Heresy by filing lawsuits in Ecclesiastical Court, seeking the excommunication of impenitent offenders.
 Excommunication, the Ban, Church Discipline and Avoidance (from Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online)
 Catholic Encyclopaedia on excommunication
 The two sides of excommunication 
 Episcopal Church of America excommunication

Category:Christian terminology