Religious disaffiliation (see also apostasy) means leaving a faith, or a religious group or community. It is in many respects the reverse of religious conversion. Several other terms are used for this process, though each of these terms may have slightly different meanings and connotations.
Bromley (1998) describes a problem with the terminology used to describe the process of religious disaffiliation. He asserts that affiliation with a religious group is referred to as conversion, and describes the continuing debate over the referent for this term, as he sees no parallel term for dissafiliation. Researchers have employed a variety of terms to describe it, including:
- dropping out
- exiting
- disidentification
- leavetaking
- defecting
- apostasy
- disaffiliation
- disengagement
This is in contrast to excommunication, which is disaffiliation from a religious organization imposed punitively on a member, rather than willfully undertaken by the member.
Read more about Religious Disaffiliation: Secularism, Coerced and Voluntary Disaffiliation, Stages of Religious Disaffiliation, Factors Affecting Psychological and Social Aspects, See Also
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