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I always through excommunication was based on 1 Cor. 5:12-13:

"For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. 'Purge the evil person from among you.'"

Also, consider Matthew 18:15-17:

“If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector."

The verse that Roman Catholics pull out referring to "on this Rock" has nothing to do with this. The "Rock" refers to Christ, not Jesus' friend Peter. But that's something those from the Church in Rome refuse to acknowledge, as it's fundamental to their doctrines....

That sounds more persuasive than the "rock" reference. I have no problem with any church expelling any member who either is committing some egregious sin or becomes opposed to the church in any way.

My only concern was that a church was in some way "sentencing" a person to hell. Opinions on this thread vary, but largely they seem to say that excommunication is a formal, but possibly temporary, distancing from the church. The future ramifications of that belong to the Big Guy upstairs.

I'm cool with that.

"The "Rock" refers to Christ, not Jesus' friend Peter. "

Its great that we have you here to interpret scripture for us.
You apparently know a lot more than the folks who have believed otherwise for the last two thousand years.

The verse that Roman Catholics pull out referring to "on this Rock" has nothing to do with this. The "Rock" refers to Christ, not Jesus' friend Peter. But that's something those from the Church in Rome refuse to acknowledge, as it's fundamental to their doctrines.... Jesus' "friend" Peter? I've heard some unusual extrapolations, but that's right up there. Peter wasn't simply Christ's "friend". If you read the scripture objectively without color, there is no denying that he was giving him enormous power and responsibility. Not only ordaining him as the head of the Church on earth, but giving him the keys to heaven. This is not me trying to give you a hard time, it's the Word of God as written, plainly and explicitly. Here it is again.

Matthew 16: 18-19
And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven.

Where did you get this notion that Jesus was talking about himself in the third person, in the middle of a passage in which he is talking about Peter? Is that how protestants rationalize their heresy, through misinterpretation??