Community and Its Boundaries

Core tenets that state who belongs to the community of believers, how one enters or leaves it, and what marks the line between insider and outsider. This includes tenets on conversion and apostasy, the requirements for membership or full standing, endogamy and marriage rules aimed at preserving the community, and doctrines that define a chosen people, a covenant community or an elect. A tenet about how the community should be governed or who leads it belongs instead under religious authority and succession, and a tenet about ethical duties owed to outsiders belongs instead under ethics and conduct.