Church discipline

thumb|Fanciful 16th-century fresco in the Sala Regia (Vatican)|Sala Regia, by [[Giorgio Vasari, depicting Pope Gregory IX excommunicating Frederick II. Since few details were provided to the artist, Vasari chose to paint an excommunication scene generically. In the traditional excommunication procedure, the pope and his priests would hurl burning candles on the ground and stamp them out. The painter however here chose to show the pope personally stepping on the emperor.]] Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to deprive, suspend, or limit membership in a religious c

The word anathema has two main meanings. One is something or someone hated or avoided. The other is something or someone that has been formally excommunicated by a church. These meanings come from the New Testament, where an anathema was a person or thing cursed or condemned by God. In the Old Testament, an anathema was something or someone cursed and separated from God because of sin.

Shunning can be the act of social rejection, or emotional distance. In a religious context, shunning is a formal decision by a denomination or a congregation to cease interaction with an individual or a group, and follows a particular set of rules. It differs from, but may be associated with, excommunication. The social rejection occurs when a person or group deliberately avoids association with, and habitually keeps away from an individual or group. This can be a formal decision by a group, or a less formal group action which will spread to all members of the group as a form of solidarity. Sh

ecclesiastical discipline

congregation discipline as practiced by Jehovah's Witnesses