Excommunication. The severing of a member’s membership record. According to twelfth President Spencer Kimball, “Excommunication is a complete severing of all ties. One loses membership, the Holy Ghost, priesthood, sealings, and all church privileges. If the transgression is generally and widely known and is a public scandal, the individual is sometimes permitted to make a public adjustment ‘not to the members but to the elders’ so that all who have heard of the sin may also know of the repentance. This is a clearing privilege that those involved in a publicly known scandal should grasp gladly” (Faith Precedes the Miracle, p. 178). Page 94 of the Church Handbook of Instructions states, 

“A person who is excommunicated is no longer a member of the Church. Excommunication is the most severe Church disciplinary action.”

“A person who is excommunicated is no longer a member of the Church. Excommunication is the most severe Church disciplinary action.”

“Excommunication is mandatory for murder and almost always required for incest.” 

For a testimony of someone who was excommunicated from the Mormon Church, click here.

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