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100,000 Britons want to de-baptize themselves


Dr. D

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Oooh. Good idea! Official de-baptism towels. $12.95 plus tax.

Your choice of designer atheist colors: lack-of-belief blue, skepticism red, literal lavender and non-religious rose.

We could also put a few drops of food coloring in the baptism water . . . .

Fundamentalist fuschia . . . .

Bible thumper blue . . . .

Missionary Mauve . . . .

Evangelistic evergreen . . . .

Holier than thou tangerine . . . .

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For some reason, this topic makes me think of the whole re-virginization thing that made news a few years ago...hmmm. :rolleyes:

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LONDON (AFP) – More than 100,000 Britons have recently downloaded "certificates of de-baptism" from the Internet to renounce their Christian faith.

The initiative launched by a group called the National Secular Society (NSS) follows atheist campaigns here and elsewhere, including a London bus poster which triggered protests by proclaiming "There's probably no God."

"We now produce a certificate on parchment and we have sold 1,500 units at three pounds (4.35 dollars, 3.20 euros) a pop," said NSS president Terry Sanderson, 58.

John Hunt, a 58-year-old from London and one of the first to try to be "de-baptised," held that he was too young to make any decision when he was christened at five months old.

The male nurse said he approached the Church of England to ask it to remove his name. "They said they had sought legal advice and that I should place an announcement in the London Gazette," said Hunt, referring to one of the official journals of record of the British government.

So that's what he did -- his notice of renouncement was published in the Gazette in May 2008 and other Britons have followed suit.

Michael Evans, 66, branded baptising children as "a form of child abuse" -- and said that when he complained to the church where he was christened he was told to contact the European Court of Human Rights.

The Church of England said its official position was not to amend its records. "Renouncing baptism is a matter between the individual and God," a Church spokesman told AFP.

"We are not a 'membership' church, and do not keep a running total of the number of baptised people in the Church of England, and such totals do not feature in the statistics that we regularly publish," he added.

De-baptism organisers say the initiative is a response to what they see as increasing stridency from churches -- the latest last week when Pope Benedict XVI stirred global controversy on a trip to AIDS-ravaged Africa by saying condom use could further spread of the disease.

"The Catholic Church is so politically active at the moment that I think that is where the hostility is coming from," said Sanderson. "In Catholic countries there is a very strong feeling of wanting to punish the church by leaving it."

In Britain, where government figures say nearly 72 percent of the population list themselves as Christian, Sanderson feels this "hostility" is fuelling the de-baptism movement.

Theologian Paul Murray at Durham University disagrees. "That is not my experience," he said, but concedes that change is in the air.

"We are in an interesting climate where Catholicism and other belief systems have moved into the public, pluralist arena, alongside secularists," he said.

De-baptism movements have already sprung up in other countries.

In Spain, the high court ruled in favour of a man from Valencia, Manuel Blat, saying that under data protection laws he could have the record of his baptism erased, according to a report in the International Herald Tribune.

Similarly, the Italian Union of Rationalists and Agnostics (UAAR) won a legal battle over the right to file for de-baptism in 2002, according to media reports. The group's website carries a "de-baptism" form to facilitate matters.

According to UAAR secretary Raffaele Carcano, more than 60,000 of these forms have been downloaded in the past four years and continue to be downloaded at a rate of about 2,000 per month. Another 1,000 were downloaded in one day when the group held its first national de-baptism day last October 25.

Elsewhere, an Argentinian secularist movement is running a "Collective Apostasy" campaign, using the slogan "Not in my name" (No en mi nombre).

Sanderson hopes rulings in other European countries will pave the way for legal action in Britain, since European Union directives require a level of parity among member states' legislation.

"That would be a good precedent for us to say to the British Information Commissioner: Come on, what's your excuse?" said Sanderson.

The bus-side posters that hit London in January sported the message: "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life."

The scheme was in response to pro-Christian adverts on buses directing passers-by to a website warning those who did not accept Jesus would suffer for eternity in hell.

Comedy writer Ariane Sherine, mastermind of the British bus campaign that saw a copycat version in Barcelona and other cities, said she backs the "de-baptism" movement but insisted the two initiatives were separate.

Sanderson meanwhile remains resolute. "The fact that people are willing to pay for the parchments shows how seriously they are taking them," he said.

Logged

I've wanted to do this for years, where can I get one?

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Oooh. Good idea! Official de-baptism towels. $12.95 plus tax.

Your choice of designer atheist colors: lack-of-belief blue, skepticism red, literal lavender and non-religious rose.

Actually that's not a bad business idea -- seriously. If someone did start selling such towels, T-shirts etc., people would buy them

Karlis

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I've wanted to do this for years, where can I get one?
Do you really want to buy such a certificate, anakha6? If you do, I'll print one up for you. Send me $10 plus postage, and we're in business. Otoh, my offer may well be against UM rules for promoting a money-making scheme. :P

Karlis

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For some reason, this topic makes me think of the whole re-virginization thing that made news a few years ago...hmmm. :rolleyes:

yes ! and what' s funny ... along with that whole bush era abstinence campaign ? abortions went up under Bush. lol.

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For some reason, this topic makes me think of the whole re-virginization thing that made news a few years ago...hmmm. :rolleyes:

Holy crap! That was one of the most hilarious things I've ever read!

"Do you now feel like 'second-hand goods' and no longer worthy to be cherished?

^ funniest thing I've read all day! lol!

I want to get in on the de-baptism towels. Sounds like something worth investing in. :P I say you up the price to $19.95, and throw in an official "At home de-baptism" instruction manual.

Edited by theGhost_and_theDarkness
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linked-image

De-Baptise wipes

Wipes that Holy water and sacred taint right off.

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Hbr 10:26 For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins........

1Cr 1:18 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.

randomhit10

Edited by randomhit10
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Well they always said religion was a scam to make money - looks like certain entrepreneurs have beaten others to the punch. On a personal matter, I do not ever remember having to pay for my baptism when I became a Christian. Since I was an adult at the time, I think I would have such a memory somewhere if it had happened.

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Just another example of Atheists making themselves ever more like religious groups...

'We will destroy the United Atheist Alliance like a clam on our tummies!'

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Hbr 10:26 For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins........

1Cr 1:18 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.

randomhit10

You said we were your favorite people and you want us to cut off our what????

Moses

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You said we were your favorite people and you want us to cut off our what????

Moses

are you talkin' to the ghost again?

randomhit10

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You said we were your favorite people and you want us to cut off our what????

Moses

I never understood that part. You're a guy, you die and get to the gates of Heaven and Peter says, 'Drop your trousers..' you haven't got your bits cut off, so you don't get in?????

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linked-image

De-Baptise wipes

Wipes that Holy water and sacred taint right off.

I can envision a spa for recuperating believers of all religions. A full blown diet scorning leaven bread or pork. The orgasmic massages where speaking in tongues will be common but soon reversed. The de-baptizing ceremony where the partakers get wet and then dry off, reversing the age-old process. Submersion or sprinkling will be allowed. The towels will also be symbolic with a symbolic price of about $250.00 since they also serve as one's certification of debaptization. We will have age regression hypnosis sessions where the born again will return to that critical moment of their lives and be un-reborn again. We will need an exotic setting of course and five-star everything including masseuers. Stock will be available soon.

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Wow, somehow that seems like a huge collossal waste of time...and LOL! @ Dr. D, nice pic of the de-baptism wipes.

Edited by SpIdErCyDe
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We will need an exotic setting of course and five-star everything including masseuers.

Guantánamo Bay it is then. ^_^

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good idea. I want to get de baptized where would I go to have it done?

Please step this way to Dr D's office.

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Im serious. I hate christianity. I was forced into it at birth without a choice of what I wanna do with my life and I want to remove this mark. I am pagan by nature and will always be.

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Please step this way to Dr D's office.

I hate it when people come into my office and I tell them to strip to the waist and they ask, "From which end?"

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while many say it's a waste of time... they fail to look at the principle . How many times have we done something just for the sake of our principles ?

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how many trees go into making paper money ? it isn't recycled when it's overused ... it's burned.

None paper is made from cotton. Why you think it doesnt disingrate when it goes into the washer.

Edited by insanemind
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None paper is made from cotton. Why you think it doesnt disingrate when it goes into the washer.

thank you ... ! yes you are right. but we do waste trees on all sorts of things. <_<

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