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Many religious movements consider it a vice, a corruption of the virtue of piety in the sense that when piety fails, apostasy is the result. However, most converts to a new religion can also be considered apostates from a previous belief. The word is also used to refer to renunciation of belief in a cause other than religion.
Several religious movements punish apostates. Apostates may be shunned by the members of their former religious group. This may be the official policy of the religious group or may happen spontaneously. In Islam the prescribed punishment for apostasy is death.
Some Atheists and agnostics use the term deconversion to describe loss of faith in religion. Freethinkers do not see it as a loss. They see it as gaining rationality and respect for the scientific method.
The reliability of the testimonies of apostates is an important and controversial issue in the study of cults and new religious movementA new religious movement or NRM appears as a religious, ethical or spiritual grouping that has not (yet) become recognised as a standard denomination, church, or body, especially when it has a novel belief system and when it is not a sect. Some scholars ps.
Sources are divided on whether MuslimA Muslim is a believer in or follower of Islam. The word Muslim means one who submits and implies complete submission to the will of God ( Allah). Muslims believe that nature is itself Islamic, since it follows natural laws placed by God. Thus, a Muslim s apostasy deserves punishment. Muhammed reportedly told one person, "Kill whoever changes his religion." Some Islamic countries, such as Mauritania, consider apostasy cause for execution or divorce.