I'm actually in favor of religious leaders deciding who gets to be a member of their church/coven/whatever based on behavior. If someone consistently behaves in a way that contradicts the teachings of the religious group, it makes sense for someone to say, "You're not really one of us." If religious beliefs don't affect your behavior, what are they for, after all?

That said, this business of having one pastor decide that someone is ineligible for membership is a ridiculous thing in a United Methodist congregation. They still move pastors to different churches every few years, don't they? What happens if one person is accepted as a member of their local church by one pastor, and the new pastor assigned two years later believes that that person should never have been considered a part of the church? I wish the whole denomination would decide what kind of church the true Church is supposed to be and live it out.

Next they'll start arguing over what the meaning of "is" is. :-P