Sephardic Jews in the Netherlands of Sephardic Jewry in Amsterdam, the Mahamad also closely controlled the process of re-judaization - that is helping those whose families had been secretly living as Jews while being outwardly Catholic return to a full Jewish life. In this process, several individuals rejected Rabbinic Judaism or advanced ideas outside of the norms of Judaism at that time and were disciplined by the Mahamad through the process of herem, which could be anything from denial of Torah honors to an outright ban on the individual. The most famous of those to receive a full ban herem was philosopher Baruch Spinoza, whose
Association of Religion Data Archives Department; membership and distributional data and historical lineages ("Family Trees") of major world religions and U.S. denominations thereof; and various learning tools. A bi-weekly journalistic article dealing with matters of religion and (usually American) public life, written by David Briggs, also appears on the ARDA website. This article is cross-posted to the Huffington Post, for which Briggs also writes. In 2015, the ARDA began providing interactive historical timelines of religion in the United States. Currently, there are three interactive timelines listed: Prominent Religious Events and People, Baptist Events and People, and Catholic Events and People. The ARDA is both affiliated