Raymond
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Athiest wants 'de-baptism'An athiest is trying to get himself 'de-baptised' from the Church of England because he believes he was accepted into the religion without his consent.
John Hunt of south London is one of a growing number of people who want their former associations with faith groups to be struck off official records.
John, now 56 was baptised in the parish if St.Jude with St.Aiden in Thornton Heath, south London when he was five months old.
At age 11 he decided he did not believe in God and stopped attending Sunday school.
More recently he asked Southwark diocese to remove his name from the baptismal roll, because he believes he was too young too agree to the ceremony taking place.
He was informed he would not be deleted as it is a matter of historical record.
He now has a copy of a "de-baptism" certificate produced by the National Secular Society (NSS), rejecting 'superstitious belief systems and the concept of original sin'.
The NSS says an estimated 10,000 people have downloaded a copy of the certificate over the past five years.
Terry Sanderson, president of the NSS admitted that the certificate was originally a 'tongue in cheek' joke but added that the proceedure was now being taken seriously by a growing number of athiests.
- The Daily Telegraph
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evergreen
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id imagine not only atheists would desire this for a number of reasons .. another argument for my no religion in schools
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beantighe
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I was very interested to see this, as I felt the exact same way.
I was adopted at the age of nearly two, and the first thing my adoptive mother did was to have me baptised. I found the certificate in amongst a box of old papers and photographs which I was given after her funeral 5 years ago.
The whole idea of making vows and promises on behalf of a child who is too young to understand or give consent disgusts me. To me it is an affront to an individual's own autonomy and free will, and bears no resemblance to a ceremony for naming the child and welcoming it into the family and the wider community.
When I first recognised myself as a Pagan (the difference between being consciously and unconsciously so) in 1994, I underwent an initiation ceremony after the Wiccan fashion, in which I was re-named and ritually re-born. This ceremony was very moving and meaningful to me, and the reason I wanted it was to wipe out the christening that had been forced on me as a baby without my understanding or consent.
When I found my christening certificate 5 years ago, I ritually burned it in the flame of a black candle, to signify endings and to expunge what had been done to me as if it had never existed. It did work, because after that, I felt freed and light, as if a millstone had been lifted off my shoulders.
I naturally never had any of my own three daughters christened, even though my eldest told me that my mother had offered her money if she would get herself christened!!   I have also never deliberately talked to them about my own spirituality, believing that it was essential they find their own without any encouragement or coercion from me. Therefore I am very pleased to discover that my eldest daughter is Pagan, my middle daughter is agnostic with certain pagan leanings, and my youngest, I think, might discover for herself when she's older - the signs are there.
So yes, I'm not in the least surprised that 10,000 people want some means of cancelling out a baptismal act that was carried out on them as babies without their understanding or permission. And the rest!!!
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david hobbs
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Christainity is I believe a state religion in this country.
Once you have a Christian Name through baptism into the state religion are you then owned by the state?
I am not joking here.
Are you owned by the state?
Never forget also that we in this fair and pleasant land are Subjects of the Queen, who is also the head of the church, and not citizens. At least that is the way I see it.
Subject means one thing and citizen something very different.
So what exactly is our status?
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evergreen
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well you just described servants... or the word plebs jumps to mind... someone who is owned
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Raymond
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We are indeed subjects - as are New Zealanders, Candians and Australians EG!
They always talk of 'British citizenship' but it's a contradictions in terms.
That's also why Britain can't be a secular country like other European countries because our head of state and head of church are the same person.
How could you possibly seperate religion and state with the same person being head of both?
It might sound a bit strange but personally I wouldn't want it any other way. I never, ever want to see the Republic of Great Britain.
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evergreen
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I don't feel like a servant I don't feel owned int eh least.. I enjoy being a citizen
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Raymond
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I'm sure millions would agree EG but you are a subject of the crown whether you recognise it or not.
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evergreen
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yeah I know..sometimes I think it sux.. being that I am Irish but then actually English cause I'm from the North and then I live in Australia so I am Australian and then still subject to the Queen ha!
identity crisis anyone ?
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Raymond
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Well, I for one would much sooner be a subject to Her Majesty than a 'citizen' of President Brown.
Could you imagine???
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david hobbs
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Sad thing is Raymond you are subject to both.
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evergreen
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Well I live in the lucky country and I really believe it to be so :)
we are not separate from others be they neighbours over the fence or over the world
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