Shunning

===Christianity===
{{Main|Excommunication}}

====Anabaptism====
{{Main|Anabaptist theology#Church discipline}}
Certain sects of the [[Amish]]—an [[Anabaptist]] community—practice shunning or ''meidung''.<ref>{{cite web|title=Why do the Amish practice shunning?|publisher=Amish America|url=http://amishamerica.com/why-do-the-amish-practice-shunning/}}</ref> Historically, the [[Schwarzenau Brethren]] practiced a form of shunning that they called "avoidance," a refusal to eat with even a family member whom the church had placed in "avoidance."<ref>{{cite book|author=Carl F Bowman|title=Brethren Society: The Cultural Transformation of a Peculiar People|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|year=1995|page=90-91}}</ref>

====Catholicism====
Prior to the [[Code of Canon Law of 1983]], in rare cases (known as excommunication ''[[Vitandus|vitandi]]'') the [[Catholic Church]] expected adherents to shun an [[excommunication|excommunicated]] member in secular matters. 

In 1983, the distinction between ''vitandi'' and others (''tolerandi'') was abolished, and thus the expectation is not made anymore.<ref>{{cite CE1913|wstitle=Excommunication|first=Auguste |last=Boudinhon|volume=5}}</ref>

====Jehovah's Witnesses====
{{Main|Jehovah's Witnesses and congregational discipline}}
{{See also|Jehovah's Witnesses practices#Discipline}}
[[Jehovah's Witnesses]] practice a form of shunning which they refer to as "[[Jehovah's Witnesses and congregational discipline#Disfellowshipping|disfellowshipping]]".{{sfn|Holden|2002|pp=[https://archive.org/details/jehovahswitnesse00andr/page/32 32, 78-79]}} A disfellowshipped person is not to be greeted either socially or at their meetings. Disfellowshipping follows a decision of a judicial committee established by a local congregation that a member is unrepentantly guilty of a "serious sin".

Sociologist Andrew Holden's research indicates that many Witnesses who would otherwise defect because of disillusionment with the organization and its teachings retain affiliation out of fear of being shunned and losing contact with friends and family members.{{sfn|Holden|2002|pp=[https://archive.org/details/jehovahswitnesse00andr/page/250 250–270]}}