Deconsecration

Deconsecration, also referred to as decommissioning or secularization (a term also used for the external confiscation of church property), is the removal of a religious sanction and blessing from something that had been previously consecrated for spiritual use. This can be of any particular thing, including people or places, that may have been considered holy or blessed in some way in the past.

In particular, church buildings no longer required for religious use are deconsecrated for secular use or demolition.

Judaism

Jewish legalistic discourse surrounding both abstract and physical objects – such as sacrifices for the Temple in Jerusalem, coinage, and nature – often describes consecration as dependent on the circumstance by which those objects are used. The term "consecration" may be used to describe the neutral, unadulterated, innate state of a thing, where "deconsecration" is a consequence of a particular action that renders that object unfit for certain ceremonial, religious, or moral uses. For instance, silver or coinage circulated under a previous occupying ruler of Palestine, it can be considered deconsecrated for the sake of, i.e., Tzedakah. As common in almost all Talmudic discourse, there is dissenting opinion.

Synagogues

Jewish legalistic tradition generally does not consider synagogues to be holy structures on their own, but rather holy through the congregation or minyan that uses it. Thus, there are no formal procedures for the consecration or deconsecration of a synagogue (Hebrew: בית הכנסת [Beit haKnesset]). This also allows any space habitually used to support a minyan (quorum of ten Jews above the age of bar mitzvah) to be considered a synagogue, as long as it contains a torah ark (Hebrew: ארון קודש [Aron Kodesh]), and bimah or platform from which the Torah can be observed and read.