Join our Newsletter
If you like The NakedJournal, you'll enjoy my weekly newsletter about deconstruction, freedom, and life in general.
Have You Ever Been Shunned?
Two women pass each other in the grocery store. One says, “Sally?! What do you mean, “Excuse me, who are you?”? I only left the church last month!
HAVE YOU EVER BEEN SHUNNED?
It’s happened to me a few times when I’ve left the church.
I know many people it has happened to as well.
It’s called shunning.
Some churches actually call it that… “shunning”.
Other churches don’t because they would never actually “shun” people because that’s not nice.
Instead, they will completely cut them out of their lives and have nothing to do with them ever again.
What’s the difference?
Just spelling.
When I’ve left the church before and it happened to me, I got the feeling they thought:
- I had catastrophically and cataclysmically backslidden into unforgivable error;
- I had demons; and
- I was contagious.
Has this happened to you?
1 comment
Yes, this really hits home with me. This has been confusing and painful when churches full of people that I have known for years have shunned me. This is why I don’t go to church and avoid congregations in general.