by Alec Muffett
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Debaptism? Nice idea – but it looks as if the downloadable “Certificate” is no longer available, and the Nat Sec Soc wants you to buy a “parchment” certificate from their store. Anyone got a copy of the PDF?
The Church of England, while they have an entirely fair point regarding the registers of baptisms being historical documents which should be maintained “as is”, should sensibly open parallel registers of baptismal revocations, to be maintained the same way, and in which records of revocation can be made for free (they’ve already had their money from the erroneous baptism, after all).
The National Secular Soceity’s certificate and the requirement for advertisement in publications of note, just feels like too much of a hack.
Of course, it may be far more fun to go the whole hog and try for excommunication :-).
Forgot to mention; Robin Wilton makes a fine point about this affair at futureidentity.blogspot.com/2009/03/consent-and-revocation.html .
If religious orientation is considered to be PII under the Data Protection Act (and others), then if the Church of England, being a state body, holds information about an individual which can be deemed out of date, then compulsion to update said information for free, should be feasible…
My greatx5 grandfather was married twice. My greatx4 grandmother was born in such close proximity between the first and second marriage, it is unproven which wife was my greatx5 grandmother. If it was the first wife, I am descended from the founder of Rhode Island, of which I would be extremely proud, for founding the colony on the basis of religious freedom. I may never know, but I am grateful my parents raised me to acknowledge religious differences. Although they baptized me, I don’t believe that church claims me as theirs as a result of it. If they did, I wouldn’t seek so much a “debaptism” against the good intentions of my parents, but as Richard Veryard (re Robin Wilton’s post) says, you can’t transfer the beliefs of an infant on the basis of a child’s parents actions. I support my parents decision to baptize me, I support their raising me to acknowledge differences, but I don’t necessarily align with the beliefs of the church in which I was baptized.
I had my kids baptised as catholics for the same reason that I got them US passports instead of UK passports and will enrol them as Junior Whites; it’s easier to do now than later if they so choose. I’ll raise them to be skeptical British Wanderers fans like myself and when they are old enough to decide for themselves that’s fine, I’ll respect their decision.
Except as regards the Wanderers, of course.
And if you were Jewish, you would have them (any boys, rather) circumsized?
And in what way is it easier to do now, than later? It’s not like they have to order-in adult-sized fonts from IKEA.
My dad got baptised while an officer in WWII, and I have seen half a dozen grown-up ceremonies of similar, so that argument doesn’t really hang together, Dave…
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