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{{Short description|Act of social rejection, or emotional distance}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2014}}

'''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. Shunning can sometimes also be used by an individual to express discontent with an action of their family. Sometimes shunning leads to shunning in itself. An example would be a son using shunning to stop their mother from shunning someone.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Deeb |first=Lara |url= |title=Love Across Difference |date=2024-08-13 |publisher=Stanford University Press |isbn=978-1-5036-4076-4 |pages=224–225 |language=en |doi=10.1515/9781503640764}}</ref>

Shunning is a sanction against association, often associated with [[religious]] groups and other tightly knit organizations and communities. Targets of shunning can include persons who have been labeled as [[apostates]], [[whistleblower]]s, [[dissident]]s, [[strikebreaker]]s, or anyone the group perceives as a threat or source of conflict.<ref name="psychotorture" /> Shunning can also be the result of the love life of a person. This often results because of marriage/dating outside of their religion/class. In these cases it's most often the direct family of the couple which shun the couple because of discontent with the marriage ([[Interfaith marriage|interfaith marriages]]). This can be motivated by fear of the reaction of their [[community]] or because of personal beliefs.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Deeb |first=Lara |url= |title=Love Across Difference |date=2024-08-13 |publisher=Stanford University Press |isbn=978-1-5036-4076-4 |pages=212–231 |language=en |doi=10.1515/9781503640764}}</ref> 

Social rejection has been established to cause psychological damage and has been categorized as torture<ref name="psychotorture">{{cite web | url=http://humanrights.ucdavis.edu/resources/library/documents-and-reports/ojeda.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://humanrights.ucdavis.edu/resources/library/documents-and-reports/ojeda.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live | title=What is Psychological Torture? | publisher=humanrights.ucdavis.edu | date=September 30, 2006 | access-date=August 31, 2011 | author=Ojeda, Almerindo}}</ref> or a low-cost punishment for failed cooperation.<ref>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1126/science.1137651| pmid = 17510357| title = The New Synthesis in Moral Psychology| journal = Science| volume = 316| issue = 5827| pages = 998–1002| year = 2007| last1 = Haidt | first1 = J.| bibcode = 2007Sci...316..998H| url = http://faculty.virginia.edu/haidtlab/articles/haidt.2007.new-synthesis-in-moral-psychology.pub044.pdf| citeseerx = 10.1.1.398.8944| s2cid = 6161377}} ([http://www.ppls.ed.ac.uk/ppig/documents/Haidt2007-Thenewsynthesisinmoralpsychology.pdf read online]) Retrieved June 15, 2015.</ref> Mental rejection is a more individual action, where a person subconsciously or willfully ignores an idea, or a set of information related to a particular viewpoint. Some groups are made up of people who shun the same ideas.<ref>{{cite web|title=Flat Earth Society |url=http://theflatearthsociety.org/cms/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=48&Itemid=65 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091113015212/http://theflatearthsociety.org/cms/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=48&Itemid=65 |archive-date=2009-11-13 |access-date=April 16, 2014}}</ref>

Social rejection was and is a punishment in many [[customary law|customary legal systems]] or [[Culture|cultures]]. Such sanctions include the [[ostracism]] of ancient Athens and the still-used ''[[kasepekang]]'' in [[Bali]]nese society. It happens more often in tight communities when people fear losing their social status.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Deeb |first=Lara |url= |title=Love Across Difference |date=2024-08-13 |publisher=Stanford University Press |isbn=978-1-5036-4076-4 |pages=214 |language=en |doi=10.1515/9781503640764}}</ref>

==In religion==

===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. For many years, the practice was referred to as "disfellowshipping"; however, the term was discontinued in 2024, and is instead referred to as “removal from the congregation”.{{sfn|Holden|2002|pp=[https://archive.org/details/jehovahswitnesse00andr/page/32 32, 78-79]}} A tribunal of elders determines whether an individual has committed a serious sin and is unrepentant. Elders may meet with the individual a number of times to encourage repentance before deciding to remove the person from the congregation.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=The Watchtower|date=August 2024|pages=20&ndash;25|publisher=Watch Tower Society|title=Responding to Sin With Love and Mercy}}</ref>

For many years, members were instructed to not even greet shunned individuals.<ref>{{cite magazine|date=August 1, 2002|magazine=Our Kingdom Ministry|pages=3–4|publisher=Watch Tower Society|title=Display Christian Loyalty When a Relative Is Disfellowshipped|url=https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/202002285}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|date=September 15, 1981|magazine=The Watchtower|page=25|publisher=Watch Tower Society|quote=A simple 'Hello' to someone can be the first step that develops into a conversation and maybe even a friendship. Would we want to take that first step with a disfellowshiped person?|title=Disfellowshiping—How to View It}}</ref> As of March 2024, members are permitted to invite shunned individuals to congregation meetings or offer brief greetings at meetings, unless the individual is deemed to be an apostate.<ref name="2024 GB update #2">{{cite AV media|title=2024 Governing Body update #2|url=https://www.jw.org/en/news/region/global/2024-Governing-Body-Update-2/|publisher=WatchTower Bible and Tract Society|access-date=April 11, 2024|time=13:12}}</ref>

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]}}

===Judaism===
{{Main|Herem (censure)}}
[[Herem (censure)|Cherem]] is the highest ecclesiastical censure in the [[Jew]]ish community. It is the total exclusion of a person from the Jewish community. It is still used in the [[Haredi Judaism|Ultra-Orthodox]] and [[Hasidic Judaism|Hasidic]] community. In the 21st century, sexual abuse victims and their families who have reported abuse to civil authorities have experienced shunning in the Orthodox communities of New York<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/10/nyregion/ultra-orthodox-jews-shun-their-own-for-reporting-child-sexual-abuse.html Ultra-Orthodox Shun Their Own for Reporting Child Sexual Abuse] The New York Times, 9 May 2012</ref> and Australia.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/feb/19/rabbis-absolute-power-how-sex-abuse-tore-apart-australias-orthodox-jewish-community Rabbis' absolute power: how sex abuse tore apart Australia's Orthodox Jewish community] The Guardian, 18 February 2015</ref> Orthodox Jewish men who [[Get (divorce document)#Mesorevet get (Get refusal)|refuse to grant their wives a divorce]] are sometimes subject to shunning or shaming, as a form of social pressure intended to compel the husband to allow his [[Agunah#Mesorevet get (Get refusal)|wife]] to leave the marriage. This pressure can take the form of refusing to allow the husband to perform certain religious rituals in the synagogue, refusing his business in commerce, [[legal responses to agunah|legal solutions]] such as restraining orders, and [[public shaming]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Stomel |first1=Rachel |title=A prying shame: The public scrutiny of get refusers |url=https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/a-prying-shame-the-public-scrutiny-of-get-refusers/ |website=The Times of Israel |access-date=11 January 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Lefkowitz Brooks |first1=Jacob Joseph |title=Rabbis, others demonstrate against 'get refuser' while he is sitting shiva |url=https://shalhevetboilingpoint.com/torah/2019/08/29/rabbis-others-demonstrate-against-get-refuser-while-he-is-sitting-shiva/ |access-date=11 January 2023 |work=Shalhevet Boiling Point |date=August 29, 2019}}</ref>

===Baháʼí faith===
{{Main|Covenant breaker}}
Members of the [[Baháʼí Faith]] are expected to shun those that have been declared [[Covenant-breaker]]s, and expelled from the religion,<ref>{{cite book |title = The origins of the Bahá'í community of Canada, 1898-1948 | first = Willy Carl | last = Van den Hoonaard | publisher = Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press | year = 1996 |isbn = 978-0-88920-272-6 | page = 107}}</ref> by the [[Baháʼí administration|head of their faith]].<ref name="PSmith">{{cite book |last = Smith |first = P. |year = 1999 |title = A Concise Encyclopedia of the Bahá'í Faith |publisher = Oneworld Publications |location = Oxford, UK |pages = [https://archive.org/details/conciseencyclope0000smit/page/114 114–116] |isbn = 978-1-85168-184-6 |url = https://archive.org/details/conciseencyclope0000smit/page/114 }}</ref> Covenant-breakers are defined as leaders of schismatic groups that resulted from [[Baháʼí divisions|challenges to legitimacy of Baháʼí leadership]], as well as those who follow or refuse to shun them.<ref name="PSmith"/> Unity is considered the highest value in the Baháʼí Faith, and any attempt at schism by a Baháʼí is considered a spiritual sickness, and a negation of that for which the religion stands.<ref name="PSmith" />

===Church of Scientology===
{{details|Disconnection (Scientology)}}
The [[Church of Scientology]] asks its members to quit all communication with "[[suppressive person]]s" (those whom the Church deems antagonistic to Scientology). The practice of shunning in Scientology is termed [[Disconnection (Scientology)|disconnection]]. Members can disconnect from any person they already know, including existing family members. Many examples of this policy's application have been established in court.<ref>Judgement of Mr Justice Latey, Re: B & G (Minors) (Custody) Delivered in the High Court
(Family Division), London, 23 July 1984</ref><ref name="sinister">{{cite news The Times |title=Judge brands Scientology 'sinister' as mother is given custody of children |date=24 July 1984 |page=3}}</ref><ref name="bmj1971">{{cite journal |date=30 January 1971| pages=297–298| title=News and Notes: Scientology Libel Action|issn=0007-1447|volume=1| pmid=5294085|issue=5743| pmc=1794922|doi=10.1136/bmj.1.5743.297| journal=British Medical Journal}}</ref> It used to be customary to write a "disconnection letter" to the person being disconnected from, and to write a public disconnection notice, but these practices have not continued.<ref name="wallis">{{cite book|last=Wallis|first=Roy|title=The Road to Total Freedom: A Sociological Analysis of Scientology|publisher=Heinemann Educational Books|location=London|year=1976|pages=144–145|isbn=978-0-435-82916-2|oclc=310565311|title-link=The Road to Total Freedom: A Sociological Analysis of Scientology}}</ref><ref>{{Multiref2 |1=Hubbard, L. Ron (23 December 1965) HCO Policy Letter "Suppressive Acts" reproduced in the [[Dumbleton–Powles Report]]. |2={{cite book |title = Hubbard Scientology Organisation in New Zealand and any associated Scientology organisation or bodies in New Zealand; report of the Commission of Inquiry| first1= Sir Guy Richardson |last1=Powles |author1-link=Guy Powles |author2= E. V. Dumbleton |date=30 June 1969|oclc= 147661 |location=Wellington|pages=53–54 |url=https://www.austlii.edu.au/nz/other/NZBCPubInq/1969/1.pdf |via=[[Australasian Legal Information Institute]] |publisher=[[Royal commission|Commission of Inquiry]]}} }}</ref>

The Church states that typically only people with "false data" about Scientology are antagonistic, so it encourages members to first attempt to provide "true data" to these people. According to official Church statements, disconnection is only used as a last resort and only lasts until the antagonism ceases.<ref>[http://faq.scientology.org/discon.htm What is Disconnection?] (Accessed 5/29/11)</ref> Failure to disconnect from a suppressive person is itself labelled a suppressive act.<ref name="SciEth209">{{Cite book | last = Hubbard | first = L. Ron | title = Introduction to Scientology Ethics (Latin American Spanish ed.) | publisher = Bridge Publications | year = 2007 | page = 209 | isbn = 978-1-4031-4684-7}}</ref> In the United States, the Church has tried to argue in court that disconnection is a constitutionally protected religious practice. However, this argument was rejected because the pressure put on individual Scientologists to disconnect means it is not voluntary.<ref>California appellate court, 2nd district, 7th division, Wollersheim v. Church of Scientology of California, Civ. No. B023193 Cal. Super. (1986)</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Al Wala' Wal Bara']] – Islamic concept of friendship toward fellow Muslims, and distance from non-Muslims.
* [[Anathema]]
* [[Apostasy in Islam]]
* [[Cancel culture]]
* [[Criminalization]]
* ''[[Damnatio memoriae]]'' – practice of destroying evidence for the existence of a person
* [[Dima Yakovlev Law]]
* [[Ghosting (behavior)]] 
* [[Interdict]]
* [[Magnitsky Act]]
* [[No platform]]
* [[Passive-aggressive behaviour]]
* [[Persona non grata]]
* [[Silent treatment]]
* [[Social exclusion]]

==References==
===Citations===
{{Reflist}}
===Sources===
{{refbegin}}

* {{cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of American Religions|author-link=J. Gordon Melton|first=J. Gordon |last=Melton|isbn=0-8103-6904-4|title=Shunning|year=1993|page=88}}
* {{cite book|last= Friesen|first= Patrick|title=The Shunning|publisher=Mennonite fiction|date= 1980|isbn=0-88801-038-9}}
*{{cite book |last=Holden|first=Andrew|title=Jehovah's Witnesses: Portrait of a Contemporary Religious Movement| url = https://archive.org/details/jehovahswitnesse00andr| url-access=registration|publisher=[[Routledge]]|year=2002|isbn=978-0-415-26610-9}}
* {{cite book|last=Kraybill|first= Donald |date=2001|title=On the Backroad to Heaven|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|location= Baltimore, Maryland}}
*{{cite book|author-link=Stephen Scott (writer)|last=Scott|first= Stephen|date=1996|title=An Introduction to Old Order and Conservative Mennonite Groups|publisher= Good Books|location=Intercourse, Pennsylvania}}

{{refend}}

===Further reading===
{{refbegin}}
* McCowan, Karen, ''The Oregon Register-Guard'', Cast Out: Religious Shunning Provides an Unusual Background in the Longo and Bryant Slayings, March 2, 2003.
* D'anna, Lynnette, "Post-Mennonite Women Congregate to Discuss Abuse", ''[[Herizons]]'', March 1, 1993.
* Esua, Alvin J., and Esau Alvin A.J., ''The Courts and the Colonies: The Litigation of Hutterite Church Disputes'', Univ of British Columbia Press, 2004.
* ''Crossing Over: One Woman's Escape from Amish Life'', Ruth Irene Garret, Rick Farrant
* ''Delivered Unto Satan'' (Mennonite), Robert L. Bear, 1974, (ASIN B0006CKXQI)
* ''Children Held Hostage: Dealing with Programmed and Brainwashed Children'', Stanley S. Clawar, Brynne Valerie Rivlin, 2003.
* ''Deviance, Agency, and the Social Control of Women's Bodies in a Mennonite Community'', Linda B. Arthur, NWSA Journal, v10.n2 (Summer 1998): pp75(25).
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Commonscat|Shunning}}
{{wikiquote}}
* [http://jwfacts.com/index_files/disfellowship.htm Disfellowshipping amongst Jehovah's Witnesses]
* [http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/humphrey/amnesty.html What Shall We Tell the Children]
* [http://www.sptimes.com/2002/08/22/Floridian/Spiritual_shunning.shtml Spiritual Shunning]
* [http://gameo.org/index.php?title=Avoidance_(1953) Article on "Avoidance"/Shunning in Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online]
* [http://www.shawcreekgeneralstore.com/amish_article1.htm The Amish: Technology Practice and Technological Change, (see shunning)]
* TV Movie "The Shunning" (US 2011) [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1561770/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 at imdb] about the practice in an Amish community
* [http://www.perefound.org/tm_arch.html Stress and Conflict in an International Religious Movement: The Case of the Bruderhof (Hutterite)]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060218175941/http://www.lrz-muenchen.de/~ls_nassehi/ls1/religion_0405_statements/Lee_meaninglessness_of_religion_.pdf Ritual and the Social Meaning and Meaninglessness of Religion (Mennonite)]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060223050245/http://www.ruralsociology.org/annual-meeting/2003/Lee.pdf Rituals, Communication, and Social Systems: The Case of the Old Order Mennonites]

{{Conformity}}
{{Segregation by type}}

[[Category:Shunning| ]]
[[Category:Disengagement from religion]]
[[Category:Punishments in religion]]
[[Category:Religious law]]
[[Category:Church discipline]]