Hmmm...

[eleri]

Was reading an article about 'debaptisms' in the UK, wherein athiests can go and have their baptisms revoked by the church.

And my thought was...if they don't believe, why is it so important to go and get it stated that the water poured over their head as a baby had no meaning? If you didn't think something was real, why do you have to get it undone?

Comments

[zanda-myrande.livejournal.com]

Yes, that is interesting, isn't it? If the baptism matters at all, then getting it revoked is putting oneself outside the protection of a God in whom one must therefore logically believe.

I suppose they would say it's to stop their religious friends trying to bring them back into the fold...

[epi-lj.livejournal.com]

I can see where it would seem silly, especially if you don't believe it's true or has any power. I can see a few reasons why people might want it, though.

For one, it might be because of the way *others* look at it. If you really strongly do not believe in God, it can get irritating having friends/family/whatever telling you or reminding you constantly that you're a member of their religion anyway because of this event that happened when you were a child. They may do it just to get those people to stop forcing their religion on them once and for all.

For some it may serve as a meaningful ceremony itself -- just as a baptism can serve as a ceremonial declaration of one's faith in Catholicism or Christianity, this might serve as a ceremonial declaration of one's faith in atheism. For many people ceremonies or formal declarations are important.

And there may even be some who believe that it's real but don't want to avow themselves to that God. Believing that a given God exists does not necessarily imply worshipping that God. It may be that some people believe that the God they were baptised in the name of is real but is a right bastard that they want nothing to do with.