being christened

Post Reply New Topic

lol thats what my ex said

I asked a guy at school something similar once...I won't say which religeon it was though because that is irrelevant. Basically, the situation was that his family were aligned with a particular religeon, he mostly hung around with people from the religeon yet he didn't follow any of the rules and they seemed to find loads of loopholes round following other ones. He said he didn't even really believe in it that much. I asked him why he still called himself a member of the religeon and if he didn't believe it why didn't he quit and just get on with life as normal and his answer was that it was 'tradition' and that he used it more as a 'community' than a faith.

I asked him why he would want to be part of an insular community that had no common interest rather than just be a member of the wider secular community but he didn't want to answer; I guess people are just scared to leave even if they don't believe in it at all.

Why would you want to alienate your family and a good number of your friends who--because of their religious beliefs and not in spite of them--would be more likely to stick with you and support you in a lot of matters that a non-religious person wouldn't? It's an in-built advantage, and his life would probably be a lot worse if he shunned his religion even though that would seem the rational thing to do.

There actually are rather complicated theological views on whether a person can renounce their baptism or not. And, if a person joins another religion, they might have to ritually cast off any prior adherence to other religions, including baptism. So the concept of being un-christened does exist.

I think what I said came out wrong: I didn't mean I think he should have cast off his friends and family that he already had but more that he should quit the farce that he was a member of a religeon when he clearly didn't believe in it and that he should have tried to mix in the wider community rather than RESTRICTING himself to a quasi-religeous one.

I was baptized when I was about 10...not by choice. I didn't really know what was going on and it meant nothing to me. My family was never particularly religious, but some extended family members talked my parents into having my brothers and I baptized. What's really funny is that those extended family members are no longer religious.

My husband and I got married at the local courthouse with just a few witnesses. I had no desire to get married in a church and we wanted something small because neither of us like being the center of attention. And being married is more important than getting married. We didn't even have a reception...it would have been torture for me.

When I was 15, I told my dad I wasn't a Christian. He looked at me in disbelief and said, "But you were Christened in the church!"

"It wasn't my choice," was my response and it still is today.

Being christened as a baby has no meaning to me because I am not Christian or religious at all. Therefore, I see absolutely no value in being "unchristened", it makes no sense to me. Being "unchristened" would mean that I take religious rituals seriously, and I don't so I'm not going to start today

double post

Last edited by BazzaMcKenzie on 09 Apr 2007, 6:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.

double post

Last edited by BazzaMcKenzie on 09 Apr 2007, 6:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.

That's not necessarily true. In fact, where I came from the opposite. People were pressured to maintain religious affliations and if they "sinned" or somehow fell out of grace, thoroughly abandoned and shunned because "they weren't a good Christian". It's a Catch-22, really. You're a weirdo if you ignore religious doctrine/socialization and you're a hypocrite if you call yourself a Christian and then sin.
BTW, Christening means different things for different denominations. In the churches I went to, dedications and christenings were adult declarations to instill the values of the church and raise the child properly. They had nothing to do with a child's will. I think some denominations (Lutherans?) combined christening and baptism for babies. I was raised in an evangelical church and baptisms were performed on consenting people. I think it was 14 years and older.
(I never made it to baptism)

Haven't been christened, don't care.

I believe children should get to choose what they want in a religion.

but at what age would you say they can effectively do that?

my church, growing up, felt that was at about age 9 or 10... hence my christening at that age

imho... that was way too early and i had no real grasp on what i was doing and therefore it was meaningless... i kinda just went with it.


i find it funny that society puts strict limits on the age at which you can drink and drive... and they set those limit according to how old someone can maturely handle those privledges.... yet the maturity requirement for choosing a religion and fully comprehending those choices is SIGNIFICANTLY younger

lik in america:

you have to be 16 to competently drive
you have to be 21 to competently drink

yet....

you only have to be 9 years old to competently decide the fortune of your immortal soul

LOL LOL LOL ROFL

edit: had to add a ROFL into the mix

Part of it is probably for the benefit of family members who may think it important, even if the bride and groom don't (or bride + bride or groom + groom if you live in Canada).

But part of it is also probably that you live in the UK. Back in the 1753 they passed a law there (Lord Hardwicke's Marriage Act) which forbade secret weddings, did away with Common Law marriages, and so on; it basically put control of marriage into the hands of the government, where it had never been before. As part of this process, the government said where and how it was (and was not) OK to get married. Churches are an allowed option, many other places aren't.

In the US, for example, it's different. My first marriage was conducted by a neighbour, in that neighbour's apartment, and the only witnesses to it were her kids. I am almost certain that such a wedding would be considered invalid in the UK.