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Shunning is a practice engaged in by Jehovah's Witnesses pursuant to their interpretation of canonical text, and we are not free to reinterpret that text. ... We find the practice of shunning not to constitute a sufficient threat to the peace, safety, or morality of the community as to warrant state intervention. ...
Jehovah's Witnesses practice a form of shunning, which was for many years referred to as "disfellowshipping". [7] 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 ...
Jehovah's Witnesses believe that Jesus is God's only direct creation, that everything else was created through him by means of God's power, and that the initial unassisted act of creation uniquely identifies Jesus as God's "only-begotten Son". [159] As part of their nontrinitarian beliefs, they do not believe that Jesus is God the Son. [160]
Jehovah's Witnesses' practices are based on the biblical interpretations of Charles Taze Russell (1852–1916), founder (c. 1881) of the Bible Student movement, and of successive presidents of the Watch Tower Society, Joseph Franklin Rutherford (from 1917 to 1942) and Nathan Homer Knorr (from 1942 to 1977).
Jehovah's Witnesses practice shunning (ignoring) after disfellowshipping and disassociation as they feel that: to tolerate violations of the Bible's standards in their ranks would bring reproach on God's name and organization. shunning keeps the congregation free of possible corrosive influences [5]
The Amish have also been known to excommunicate members that were either seen or known for breaking rules, or questioning the church, a practice known as shunning. Jehovah's Witnesses use the term disfellowship to refer to their form of excommunication. The word excommunication means putting a specific individual or group out of communion.
Jehovah's Witnesses claim that shunning wrongdoers safeguards the congregation's moral and spiritual cleanliness and protects its name. [158] They believe the congregation must "maintain God's favor in order to be used by him and to represent him" or else the whole congregation would lose God's approval. [ 163 ]
Jehovah's Witnesses in Canada: Champions of freedom of speech and worship by M. James Penton. Penton, who is a professor emeritus of history at University of Lethbridge (a former member of the Jehovah's Witnesses), examines the history of legal activities that led to expansion of religious freedoms in Canada.