Neat blue dog said - Fun fact: The exact same "crime" results in the same thing among
Jehovah's Witnesses, resulting in figurative death, or
disfellowshipping.
John Wycliffe, Jan Hus, John Knox, William Tyndale, Luther and doubtless many more were labelled apostates, and as such paid a high price for challenging the status quo. Their crime was in effect calling the ruling class to account. The greatest apostate of all time would have to be Jesus Christ himself, an apostate from Judaism. The take away from this is the term apostate is no more than a weaponised slur designed by the bullies to marginalise those telling inconvenient truths.
RB