Editing Apostasy (section)

=== Jehovah's Witnesses ===
{{Main|Jehovah's Witnesses beliefs#Apostasy}}
[[Jehovah's Witnesses|Jehovah's Witness]] publications define ''apostasy'' as the abandonment of the worship and service of God, constituting rebellion against God, or rejecting "Jehovah's organization".<ref>''Reasoning From the Scriptures'', Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society, 1989, pp. 34–35.</ref> They apply the term to a range of conduct, including open dissent with the denomination's doctrines, celebration of "false religious holidays" (including Christmas and Easter), and participation in activities and worship of other religions.<ref>''Shepherd the Flock of God'', Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania,  2010, pp. 65–66.</ref> A member of the denomination who is accused of apostasy is typically required to appear before a committee of elders that decides whether the individual is to be shunned by all congregants including immediate family members not living in the same home.<ref>{{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=0-415-26610-6 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/jehovahswitnesse00andr/page/32 32], 78–79}}</ref> Baptized individuals who leave the organization because they disagree with the denomination's teachings are also regarded as apostates and are shunned.<ref name="ReferenceB">{{cite journal |journal=The Watchtower |pages=21–25 |date=January 15, 2006|url=http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2006046#h=17|title=Do Not Allow Place for the Devil}}</ref>

[[Watch Tower Society]] literature describes apostates as "mentally diseased" individuals who can "infect others with their disloyal teachings".<ref>Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 28:5 [2004], p.&nbsp;42–43</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Taylor |first=Jerome |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/war-of-words-breaks-out-among-jehovahs-witnesses-2361448.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220508/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/war-of-words-breaks-out-among-jehovahs-witnesses-2361448.html |archive-date=2022-05-08 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=War of words breaks out among Jehovah's Witnesses |date=26 September 2011 |work=The Independent |access-date=13 February 2016}}</ref> Former members who are defined as apostates are said to have become part of the [[antichrist]] and are regarded as more reprehensible than non-Witnesses.<ref name="wtantich">"Questions From Readers", ''The Watchtower'', July 15, 1985, p. 31, "Such ones willfully abandoning the Christian congregation thereby become part of the 'antichrist.' A person who had willfully and formally disassociated himself from the congregation would have matched that description. By deliberately repudiating God's congregation and by renouncing the Christian way, he would have made himself an apostate. A loyal Christian would not have wanted to fellowship with an apostate ... Scripturally, a person who repudiated God's congregation became more reprehensible than those in the world."</ref>