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Apostasy (; ) is the formal disaffiliation from, abandonment of, or renunciation of a religion by a person. It can also be defined within the broader context of embracing an opinion that is contrary to one's previous religious . One who undertakes apostasy is known as an apostate. Undertaking apostasy is called apostatizing (or apostasizing – also spelled apostacizing). The term apostasy is used by sociology to mean the renunciation and criticism of, or opposition to, a person's former religion, in a technical sense, with no pejorative connotation.
Occasionally, the term is also used to refer to the renunciation of a non-religious belief or cause, such as a political party, social movement, or sports team.
Apostasy is generally not a self-definition: few former believers call themselves apostates due to the term's negative connotation.
Many religious groups and some states punish apostates; this may be the official policy of a particular religious group or it may simply be the voluntary action of its members. Such may include shunning, excommunication, verbal abuse, physical violence, or even execution. Muslim apostates cast out and at risk from faith and family, The Times, February 05, 2005
The American sociologist David G. Bromley defined the apostate role as follows and distinguished it from the defection and whistleblower roles.
Stuart A. Wright, an American sociologist and author, asserts that apostasy is a unique phenomenon and a distinct type of religious defection in which the apostate is a defector "who is aligned with an oppositional coalition in an effort to broaden the dispute, and embraces public claims-making activities to attack his or her former group."
As the Roman Empire adopted Christianity as its state religion, apostasy became formally criminalized in the Theodosian Code, followed by the Corpus Juris Civilis (the Justinian Code). The Justinian Code went on to form the basis of law in most of Western Europe during the Middle Ages and so apostasy was similarly persecuted to varying degrees in Europe throughout this period and into the early modern period. Eastern Europe similarly inherited many of its legal traditions regarding apostasy from the Romans, but not from the Justinian Code. Medieval sects deemed heretical such as the Waldensians were considered apostates by the Church.
Bromley and others define an atrocity as an event that is perceived as a flagrant violation of a fundamental value. It contains the following three elements:
The term "atrocity story" is controversial as it relates to the differing views amongst scholars about the credibility of the accounts of former members.
Bryan R. Wilson, Reader Emeritus of Sociology of the University of Oxford, says apostates of new religious movements are generally in need of self-justification, seeking to reconstruct their past and to excuse their former affiliations, while blaming those who were formerly their closest associates. Wilson, thus, challenges the reliability of the apostate's testimony by saying that the apostate
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Wilson also asserts that some apostates or defectors from religious organisations rehearse atrocity stories to explain how, by manipulation, coercion or deceit, they were recruited to groups that they now condemn.Wilson, Bryan R. Apostates and New Religious Movements (1994) (Available online)
Jean Duhaime of the Université de Montréal writes, referring to Wilson, based on his analysis of three books by apostates of new religious movements, that stories of apostates cannot be dismissed only because they are subjective.Duhaime, Jean (Université de Montréal) Les Témoigagnes de Convertis et d'ex-Adeptes (English: The testimonies of converts and former followers, article that appeared in the otherwise English language book New Religions in a Postmodern World edited by Mikael Rothstein and Reender Kranenborg RENNER Studies in New religions Aarhus University press,
Danny Jorgensen, Professor at the Department of Religious Studies of the University of Florida, in his book The Social Construction and Interpretation of Deviance: Jonestown and the Mass Media argues that the role of the mass media in constructing and reflecting reality is particularly apparent in its coverage of cults. He asserts that this complicity exists partly because apostates with an atrocity story to tell make themselves readily available to reporters and partly because new religious movements have learned to be suspicious of the media and, therefore, have not been open to investigative reporters writing stories on their movement from an insider's perspective. Besides this lack of information about the experiences of people within new religious movements, the media is attracted to sensationalism stories featuring accusations of food and sleep deprivation, sexual and physical abuse, and excesses of spiritual and emotional authority by the charismatic leader.Jorgensen, Danny. The Social Construction and Interpretation of Deviance: Jonestown and the Mass Media as cited in McCormick Maaga, Mary, Hearing the Voices of Jonestown 1st ed. (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1998) pp. 39,
Michael Langone argues that some will accept uncritically the positive reports of current members without calling such reports, for example, "benevolence tales" or "personal growth tales". He asserts that only the critical reports of ex-members are called "tales", which he considers to be a term that clearly implies falsehood or fiction. He states that it wasn't until 1996 that a researcher conducted a study to assess the extent to which so called "atrocity tales" might be based on fact.Zablocki, Benjamin, Reliability and validity of apostate accounts in the study of religious communities. Paper presented at the Association for the Sociology of Religion in New York City, Saturday, August 17, 1996.Langone, Michael, The Two "Camps" of Cultic Studies: Time for a Dialogue, Cults and Society, Vol. 1, No. 1, 2001 Beith-Hallahmi, Benjamin Dear Colleagues: Integrity and Suspicion in NRM Research, 1997, [3]
From 1985 to 2006, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom listed a total of four cases of execution for apostasy in the Muslim world: one in Sudan (1985), two in Iran (1989, 1998), and one in Saudi Arabia (1992).
Muslims often regard adherents of the Baháʼí Faith as apostates from Islam, and there have been cases in some Muslim countries where Baháʼís have been harassed and persecuted.
"Apostasy is the antonym of conversion; it is deconversion."Paul W. Barnett, Dictionary of the Later New Testament and its Developments, "Apostasy," 73. Scot McKnight says, "Apostasy is a theological category describing those who have voluntarily and consciously abandoned their faith in the God of the covenant, who manifests himself most completely in Jesus Christ" ( Dictionary of Theological Interpretation of the Bible, "Apostasy," 58). B. J. Oropeza states that apostasy is a "phenomenon that occurs when a religious follower or group of followers turn away from or otherwise repudiate the central beliefs and practices they once embraced in a respective religious community."B. J. Oropeza, In the Footsteps of Judas and Other Defectors :Apostasy in the New Testament Communities, vol. 1 (Eugene: Cascade, 2011), p. 1; idem, Jews, Gentiles, and the Opponents of Paul: Apostasy in the New Testament Communities, vol. 2 (2012), p. 1; idem, Churches under Siege of Persecution and Assimilation: Apostasy in the New Testament Communities, vol.3 (2012), p. 1. The Ancient Greek noun ἀποστασία apostasia ("rebellion, abandonment, state of apostasy, defection")Walter Bauder, "Fall, Fall Away," The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology ( NIDNTT), 3:606. is found only twice in the New Testament (Acts 21:21; 2 Thessalonians 2:3).Michael Fink, "Apostasy," in the Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary, 87. In Acts 21:21, "Paul was falsely accused of teaching the Jews apostasy from Moses ... and he predicted the great apostasy from Christianity, foretold by Jesus (Matt. 24:10–12), which would precede 'the Day of the Lord' (2 Thess. 2:2f.)" (D. M. Pratt, International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, "Apostasy," 1:192). Some pre-tribulation adherents in Protestantism believe that the apostasy mentioned in 2 Thess. 2:3 can be interpreted as the pre-tribulation Rapture of all Christians. This is because apostasy means departure (translated so in the first seven English translations) (Dr. Thomas Ice, Pre-Trib Perspective, March 2004, Vol.8, No.11). However, "the concept of apostasy is found throughout Scripture."Pratt, International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, 1:192. The Dictionary of Biblical Imagery states that "There are at least four distinct images in Scripture of the concept of apostasy. All connote an intentional defection from the faith.""Apostasy," 39. These images are: Rebellion; Turning Away; Falling Away; Adultery. Dictionary of Biblical Imagery, 39.
Speaking with specific regard to apostasy in Christianity, Michael Fink writes:
Apostasy is certainly a biblical concept, but the implications of the teaching have been hotly debated.McKnight adds: "Because apostasy is disputed among Christian theologians, it must be recognized that ones overall hermeneutic and theology (including ones general philosophical orientation) shapes how one reads texts dealing with apostasy." Dictionary of Theological Interpretation of the Bible, 59. The debate has centered on the issue of apostasy and salvation. Based on the concept of God's sovereign grace, some hold that, though true believers may stray, they never totally fall away. Others affirm that any who fall away were never really saved. Though they may have "believed" for a while, they never experienced regeneration. Still others argue that the biblical warnings against apostasy are real and that believers maintain the freedom, at least potentially, to reject God's salvation. Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary, "Apostasy," 87.
In the recent past, in the Catholic Church the word was also applied to the renunciation of Religious vows ( apostasis a monachatu), and to the abandonment of the clergy for the life of the world ( apostasis a clericatu) without necessarily amounting to a rejection of Christianity.
A decretal by Boniface VIII classified apostates together with heretics with respect to the penalties incurred. Although it mentioned only apostate Jews explicitly, it was applied to all apostates, and the Spanish Inquisition used it to persecute both the Marranos Jews, who had been converted to Christianity by force, and to the Moriscos who had professed to convert to Christianity from Islam under pressure.
Temporal penalties for Christian apostates have fallen into disuse in the modern era.
Watch Tower Society literature describes apostates as "mentally diseased" individuals who can "infect others with their disloyal teachings".Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 28:5 2004, p. 42–43 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."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."
The Vashistha Dharmasastra, the Apastamba Dharmasutra and Yajnavalkya state that a son of an apostate is also considered an apostate. Smr̥ticandrikā lists apostates as one group of people upon touching whom, one should take a bath. Kātyāyana condemns a Brahmin who has apostatised to banishment while a Vaishya or a Shudra to serve the king as a slave. Nāradasmṛti and Parasara-samhita states that a wife can remarry if her husband becomes an apostate. The saint Parashara commented that religious rites are disturbed if an apostate witnesses them. Stories of the Hindus: an introduction through texts and interpretation: 182, Macmillan He also comments that those who forgo the Rig Veda, Samaveda and Yajurveda are "nagna" (naked) or an apostate.T.A. Gopinath Rao, Elements of Hindu Iconography, Volume 1, Part 1: 217, Motilal Banarsidas Publishers
Despite this marked tolerance, some Buddhist circles hold to a notion of heresy (外道, pinyin: Wàidào; romaji: gedō; lit. "outside path") and teach that one who renounces the Buddha's teachings has the potential of inflicting suffering on themselves.
Many Buddhists take the view that there is no absolute basis for anything. The ideas from some of the Tathāgata schools has been referred to as "hypostasising an absolute", meaning specifically not apostasy (losing belief); hypostasy in that context means "falling into belief".
The concept and punishment of Apostasy has been extensively covered in Islamic literature since the 7th century.Saeed, A., & Saeed, H. (Eds.). (2004). Freedom of religion, apostasy and Islam. Ashgate Publishing; A person is considered apostate if he or she converts from Islam to another religion.Paul Marshall and Nina Shea (2011), Silenced: How Apostasy and Blasphemy Codes are Choking Freedom Worldwide, Oxford University Press, A person is an apostate even if he or she believes in most of Islam, but denies one or more of its principles or precepts, both verbally or in writing.
Sunan an-Nasa'i »The Book of Fighting The – كتاب تحريم الدم (14) Chapter: The Ruling on Apostates (14)باب الْحُكْمِ فِي الْمُرْتَدِّ Ibn 'Abbas said: "The Messenger of Allah SAW said: 'Whoever changes his religion, kill him.'"Grade: Sahih (Darussalam) Reference : Sunan an-Nasa'i 4059 In-book reference : Book 37, Hadith 94 English translation Vol. 5, Book 37, Hadith 4064.
Muslim historians recognize 632 AD as the year when the first regional apostasy from Islam emerged, immediately after the death of Muhammed. The civil wars that followed are now called the Ridda wars (Wars of Islamic Apostasy).
Doubting the existence of Allah, making offerings to and worshipping an idol, a stupa or any other image of God, confessing a belief in the rebirth or incarnation of God, disrespecting the Quran or Islam's Prophets are all considered sufficient evidence of apostasy.Campo, Juan Eduardo (2009), Encyclopedia of Islam, Infobase Publishing, ; see pp. 48, 108–109, 118Peters, R., & De Vries, G. J. (1976). Apostasy in Islam. Die Welt des Islams, 1–25.Warraq, I. (Ed.). (2003). Leaving Islam: Apostates Speak Out. Prometheus Books;
According to some scholars, if a Muslim consciously and without coercion declares their rejection of Islam and does not change their mind after the time allocated by a judge for research, then the penalty for apostasy is; for males, death, and for females, life imprisonment.Ibn Warraq (2003), Leaving Islam: Apostates Speak Out, , pp. 1–27Schneider, I. (1995), Imprisonment in Pre-classical and Classical Islamic Law, Islamic Law and Society, 2(2): 157–173 However, a Federal Sharia court judge in Pakistan stated "...persecuting any citizen of an Islamic Statewhether he is a Muslim, or a dhimmi**is construed as waging a war against Allah and His Messenger."
In an effort to circumvent the United Nations Commission on Human Rights's ruling on an individual's right to conversion from and denunciation of a religion, some offenders of the ruling have argued that their "obligations to Islam are irreconcilable with international law." United Nations Special Rapporteur Heiner Bielefeldt recommended to the United Nations Human Rights Council on the issues of freedom of religion or belief that "States should repeal any criminal law provisions that penalize apostasy, blasphemy and proselytism as they may prevent persons belonging to religious or belief minorities from fully enjoying their freedom of religion or belief."
Many Muslims consider the Islamic law on apostasy and the punishment for it to be one of the immutable laws under Islam.Arzt, Donna (1995). "Heroes or heretics: Religious dissidents under Islamic law", Wis. Int'l Law Journal, 14, 349–445 It is a hudud crime,Mansour, A. A. (1982). Hudud Crimes (From Islamic Criminal Justice System, p. 195–201, 1982, M Cherif Bassiouni, ed. See NCJ-87479).Lippman, M. (1989). Islamic Criminal Law and Procedure: Religious Fundamentalism v. Modern Law. BC Int'l & Comp. L. Rev., 12, pp. 29, 263–269 which means it is a crime against God,Campo, Juan Eduardo (2009), Encyclopedia of Islam, Infobase Publishing, ; see p. 174 and the punishment has been fixed by God. The punishment for apostasy includesTamadonfar, M. (2001). Islam, law, and political control in contemporary Iran, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 40(2), 205–220. state enforced annulment of his or her marriage, seizure of the person's children and property with automatic assignment to guardians and heirs, and death for the apostate.El-Awa, M. S. (1981), Punishment in Islamic Law, American Trust Pub; pp. 49–68Forte, D. F. (1994). Apostasy and Blasphemy in Pakistan. Conn. J. Int'l L., 10, 27.
The Torah states:
In 1 Kings Solomon is warned in a dream which "darkly portrays the ruin that would be caused by departure from God":Alexander MacLaren, MacLaren's Expositions of Holy Scripture on 1 Kings 9, accessed 7 October 2017
The prophetic writings of Isaiah and Jeremiah provide many examples of defections of faith found among the Israelites (e.g., Isaiah 1:2–4 or Jeremiah 2:19), as do the writings of the prophet Ezekiel (e.g., Ezekiel 16 or 18). Israelite kings were often guilty of apostasy, examples including Ahab (I Kings 16:30–33), Ahaziah (I Kings 22:51–53), Jehoram (2 Chronicles 21:6, 10), Ahaz (2 Chronicles 28:1–4), or Amon (2 Chronicles 33:21–23) among others. Amon's father Manasseh was also apostate for many years of his long reign, although towards the end of his life he renounced his apostasy (cf. 2 Chronicles 33:1–19).
In the Talmud, Elisha ben Abuyah is singled out as an apostate and Epikoros (Epicurean) by the Pharisees.
During the Spanish Inquisition, a systematic conversion of Jews to Christianity took place to avoid expulsion from the crowns of Castille and Aragon as had been the case previously elsewhere in medieval Europe. Although the vast majority of simply assimilated into the Catholic dominant culture, a minority continued to practice Judaism in secret, gradually migrated throughout Europe, North Africa, and the Ottoman Empire, mainly to areas where Sephardic communities were already present as a result of the Alhambra Decree. Tens of thousands of Jews were baptised in the three months before the deadline for expulsion, some 40,000 if one accepts the totals given by Kamen, most of these undoubtedly to avoid expulsion,Kamen (1998), pp. 29–31 rather than as a sincere change of faith. These conversos were the principal concern of the Inquisition; being suspected of continuing to practice Judaism put them at risk of denunciation and trial.
Several notorious Inquisitors, such as Tomás de Torquemada, and Don Francisco the archbishop of Coria, were descendants of apostate Jews. Other apostates who made their mark in history by attempting the conversion of other Jews in the 14th century include Juan de Valladolid and Astruc Remoch.
Abraham Isaac Kook, template.htm Introduction to the Thought of Rav Kookby, Lecture #16: "Kefira" in our Day from vbm-torah.org (the Virtual Beit Midrash) template.htm Introduction to the Thought of Rav Kookby, Lecture #17: Heresy V from vbm-torah.org (the Virtual Beit Midrash) first Chief Rabbi of the Jewish community in Palestine, held that atheists were not actually denying God: rather, they were denying one of man's many images of God. Since any man-made image of God can be considered an idol, Kook held that, in practice, one could consider atheists as helping true religion burn away false images of god, thus in the end serving the purpose of true monotheism.
Medieval Judaism was more lenient toward apostasy than the other monotheistic religions. According to Maimonides, converts to other faiths were to be regarded as sinners, but still Jewish. Forced converts were subject to special prayers and Rashi admonished those who rebuked or humiliated them.
There is no punishment today for leaving Judaism, other than being excluded from participating in the rituals of the Jewish community – including leading worship, Jewish marriage or divorce, being called to the Torah and being buried in a Jewish cemetery.
In Section Six of the Sikh Rehat Maryada (Code of Conduct), it states the four transgressions ( kurahit) which lead to a Sikh becoming a patit.
These four transgressions which lead to apostasy were first listed by Guru Gobind Singh, the final human Sikh gurus of Sikhs.
The role of former members, or "apostates", has been widely studied by social scientists. At times, these individuals become outspoken public critics of the groups they leave. Their motivations, the roles they play in the anti-cult movement, the validity of their testimony, and the kinds of narratives they construct, are controversial. Some scholars like David G. Bromley, Anson Shupe, and Brian R. Wilson have challenged the validity of the testimonies presented by critical former members. Wilson discusses the use of the atrocity story that is rehearsed by the apostate to explain how, by manipulation, coercion, or Deception, he was recruited to a group that he now condemns.Wilson, Bryan R. Apostates and New Religious Movements, Oxford, England, 1994
Sociologist Stuart A. Wright explores the distinction between the apostate narrative and the role of the apostate, asserting that the former follows a predictable pattern, in which the apostate uses a "captivity narrative" that emphasizes manipulation, entrapment and being victims of "sinister cult practices". These narratives provide a rationale for a "hostage-rescue" motif, in which cults are likened to POW camps and deprogramming as heroic hostage rescue efforts. He also makes a distinction between "leavetakers" and "apostates", asserting that despite the popular literature and lurid media accounts of stories of "rescued or recovering 'ex-cultists'", empirical studies of defectors from NRMs "generally indicate favorable, sympathetic or at the very least mixed responses toward their former group".
One camp that broadly speaking questions apostate narratives includes David G. Bromley, Daniel Carson Johnson, Dr. Lonnie D. Kliever (1932–2004),Kliever 1995 Kliever. Lonnie D, Ph.D. The Reliability of Apostate Testimony About New Religious Movements , 1995. Gordon Melton,"Melton 1999"Melton, Gordon J., Brainwashing and the Cults: The Rise and Fall of a Theory, 1999. and Bryan R. Wilson.Wilson, Bryan R. (Ed.) The Social Dimensions of Sectarianism, Rose of Sharon Press, 1981. An opposing camp less critical of apostate narratives as a group includes Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi,Benjamin Beith-Hallahmi Dear Colleagues: Integrity and Suspicion in NRM Research, 1997. Dr. Phillip Charles Lucas,Lucas 1995 Lucas, Phillip Charles, From Holy Order of MANS to Christ the Savior Brotherhood: The Radical Transformation of an Esoteric Christian Order in Timothy Miller (ed.), America's Alternative Religions State University of New York Press, 1995 Jean Duhaime,Duhaime, Jean (Université de Montréal) Les Témoignages de convertis et d'ex-adeptes (English: The testimonies of converts and former followers, in Mikael Rothstein et al. (ed.), New Religions in a Postmodern World, 2003, Mark Dunlop,Dunlop 2001 The Culture of Cults Michael Langone, The Two "Camps" of Cultic Studies: Time for a Dialogue Langone, Michael, Cults and Society, Vol. 1, No. 1, 2001 and Benjamin Zablocki.Zablocki 1996 Zablocki, Benjamin, Reliability and validity of apostate accounts in the study of religious communities. Paper presented at the Association for the Sociology of Religion in New York City, Saturday, August 17, 1996.
Some scholars have attempted to classify apostates of NRMs. James T. Richardson proposes a theory related to a logical relationship between apostates and , using Bromley's definitions, in which the former predates the latter. A person becomes an apostate and then seeks the role of whistleblower, which is then rewarded for playing that role by groups that are in conflict with the original group of membership such as anti-cult organizations. These organizations further cultivate the apostate, seeking to turn him or her into a whistleblower. He also describes how in this context, apostates' accusations of "brainwashing" are designed to attract perceptions of threats against the well-being of young adults on the part of their families to further establish their newfound role as whistleblowers. Armand L. Mauss, defines true apostates as those exiters that have access to oppositional organizations that sponsor their careers as such, and validate the retrospective accounts of their past and their outrageous experiences in new religionsmaking a distinction between these and whistleblowers or defectors in this context. Donald Richter, a current member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) writes that this can explain the writings of Carolyn Jessop and Flora Jessop, former members of the FLDS church who consistently sided with authorities when children of the YFZ ranch were removed over charges of child abuse.
Ronald Burks, a psychology assistant at the Wellspring Retreat and Resource Center, in a study comparing Group Psychological Abuse Scale (GPA) and Neurological Impairment Scale (NIS) scores in 132 former members of cults and cultic relationships, found a positive correlation between intensity of reform environment as measured by the GPA and cognitive impairment as measured by the NIS. Additional findings were a reduced earning potential in view of the education level that corroborates earlier studies of cult critics (Martin 1993; Singer & Ofshe, 1990; West & Martin, 1994) and significant levels of depression and dissociation agreeing with Conway & Siegelman, (1982), Lewis & Bromley, (1987) and Martin, et al. (1992). Sociologists Bromley and Hadden note a lack of empirical support for claimed consequences of having been a member of a "cult" or "sect", and substantial empirical evidence against it. These include the fact that the overwhelming proportion of people who get involved in NRMs leave, most short of two years; the overwhelming proportion of people who leave do so of their own volition; and that two-thirds (67%) felt "wiser for the experience".
According to F. Derks and psychologist of religion Jan van der Lans, there is no uniform Emotional trauma. While psychological and social problems upon resignation are not uncommon, their character and intensity are greatly dependent on the personal history and on the traits of the ex-member, and on the reasons for and way of resignation.F. Derks and the professor of psychology of religion Jan van der Lans The post-cult syndrome: Fact or Fiction?, paper presented at conference of Psychologists of Religion, Catholic University Nijmegen, 1981, also appeared in Dutch language as Post-cult-syndroom; feit of fictie?, published in the magazine Religieuze bewegingen in Nederland/Religious movements in the Netherlands nr. 6 pp. 58–75 published by the Free university Amsterdam (1983)
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