Christening when you don't believe in God??!!

chewmylegoff

LouBlue wrote: »

I have never understood this. All the church weddings and christenings I have been to and neither of the couple have ever attended church, baffles me.

makes the pictures look nicer, innit.

last CofE one i went to was perplexing. neither of the couple had been to church for 20 years, but all the same the vicar spent 20 minutes telling the 'congregation' what an important role god and the church would be playing in this marriage. pointless. wasted 20 mins of drinking time later on.

LouBlue

And another thing, whilst we are on the subject, the friends I know that suddenly start going to church to get their child into a Catholic school, then stop going! Surely Catholic schools aren't always the best schools to go to? I should know, I went to one....:rolleyes::D

LouBlue

chewmylegoff wrote: »

makes the pictures look nicer, innit.

last CofE one i went to was perplexing. neither of the couple had been to church for 20 years, but all the same the vicar spent 20 minutes telling the 'congregation' what an important role god and the church would be playing in this marriage. pointless. wasted 20 mins of drinking time later on.

lol Maybe when you could only get married in a church or a registry office re the pictures, but not now, there are so many lovely places you can get married. I just find it hypocrital, how can it suddenly be important to couples to get married in a church, when they never go!

Soubrette

I actually feel a little bit uncomfortable about it all. I am not a christian but am a godparent (I did explain I was not a christian when asked but they insisted ).

I felt like I was disrespectful of the people who are genuine believers by basically lying in front of them all.

I didn't get married in a church, or my children christened for the same reason.

Sou

Taye

I got both my children Christened even though i don't belive in god, i know it seems silly and pointless but my Gran is very religious and if i hadn't got them christened she would have litterally worried herself to death over it.

So i got my kids christened purely to give my gran peace of mind i don't regret it as sure i do feel abit guilty wasting the poor vicar's time as the ceromony ment nothing to me just made me feel abit hypercritial but if i hadn't my gran would have stressed over it panicing about what would happen to them should the worst happen.

LouBlue

I would be interested in any couples out there who did get married in church or had their baby christened but are not religious/don't go to church. What the reasons were, it intrigues me.

LouBlue

Taye wrote: »

I got both my children Christened even though i don't belive in god, i know it seems silly and pointless but my Gran is very religious and if i hadn't got them christened she would have litterally worried herself to death over it.

So i got my kids christened purely to give my gran peace of mind i don't regret it as sure i do feel abit guilty wasting the poor vicar's time as the ceromony ment nothing to me just made me feel abit hypercritial but if i hadn't my gran would have stressed over it panicing about what would happen to them should the worst happen.

Aaah there is one reason, religious relatives. Well I have no parents or grandparents and OH's family won't get a say, they don't go to church.

jellyhead

k_bagpuss wrote: »

I was never christened as my parents decided it would be wrong to stand and promise to take me every week when they had no intention of doing so!

My parents said the same. I couldn't do it, my sister had her kids christened a year or two ago and I found the whole pretense very unpleasant. They went to church a few times beforehand, were welcomed into the church by a very nice vicar and the whole church seemed under the impression that my sister's family had joined the church. They never went again. The older children must have known it was all a lie

skintchick

Taye wrote: »

I got both my children Christened even though i don't belive in god, i know it seems silly and pointless but my Gran is very religious and if i hadn't got them christened she would have litterally worried herself to death over it.

So i got my kids christened purely to give my gran peace of mind i don't regret it as sure i do feel abit guilty wasting the poor vicar's time as the ceromony ment nothing to me just made me feel abit hypercritial but if i hadn't my gran would have stressed over it panicing about what would happen to them should the worst happen.

Pity you couldn't have got your gran to read her bible more carefully and she'd have seen that children will go to heaven if they die. Unless she was Catholic and believed in all that original sin stuff of course, which I don;t because i'm not catholic :cool:

lostinrates

LouBlue wrote: »

I would be interested in any couples out there who did get married in church or had their baby christened but are not religious/don't go to church. What the reasons were, it intrigues me.

DH and I are of different cultural and religious backgrounds. While we both have a belief its not that of our respective religions of birth, but we feel culturally influenced- to our benefit, by our religious bckgrounds. I would want that for a child.