Christening....which religion.....

onlyroz

Tiddlywinks wrote: »

I see nothing wrong in parents passing on their faith to their children.

Raise your children with the values of your faith - fine.
Bring your children with you when you go to worship your God - fine.
Teach your children the tenets of your faith - fine.
But irreversibly enrol them into your faith before they have a hope of understanding the implications - this I have a big problem with. In my view this is akin to things like arranged marriages. And yes, I have similar views about piercing/tattooing/circumcising your children.

onlyroz

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

If you mean babies then I would agree. If you mean older children then I think that's a point of view that's very disrespectful.

I don't think you can say that a child is a "Christian child" (or "Muslim child" or "Atheist child") until they have stated for themselves that they are, with a full understanding of what that means.

Torry_Quine

erichamster wrote: »

But that's the same sort of cop out as "god works in mysterious ways". How can you base your life on something you can't even explain to others? It's pointless.

The trouble is that religion rarely takes hold in people who haven't been indoctrinated as children because it has no basis other than 'the bible says it's so', I may as well say any old book must be true because it was written down a long time ago in the olden days!

That's why religion is so keen to get 'em while they're young so please don't christen your innocent child OP, it's a pointless, outdated tradition that labels tiny children as sinners and saddles them with defunct beliefs before they're anywhere near mature enough to decide how they stand on the point, you wouldn't label a child a Labour child or a Conservative child but its fine to call them a Christian child or a Muslim child as an infant!
Bring them up with an open mind to question everything and ask how people know things and what is the evidence, not just to accept whatever they're told blindly.

I totally agree there is no such thing as a Christian or indeed atheist infant. Until they are old enough to make that decision for themself they are the child of Christian or atheist parents.


I can't see the wind but I can feel the results of its actions. I can't see the love of my family but I can see the results. The same is true of God.

Tiddlywinks wrote: »

And.... gladly, some people use their religion to inspire them to help others - Salvation Army and Christian Aid for example.

Religion doesn't corrupt in itself - bad people use some ideologies to corrupt - there is a BIG difference.

I don't think a person's religious beliefs should be of interest to anyone but themselves - it is how they conduct themselves and how they relate to their fellow man that counts.

That's so true. Without religion the social care in this country would be much diminished.

Person_one

Tiddlywinks wrote: »

How many people have their children's ears pierced before they are old enough to make that decision for themselves?

Also wrong.

Person_one

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

It would be very difficult to convert to anything if nobody ever told you about it!

Anyway, what about the numbers of indigenous British people who convert to Islam - that doesn't happen by a cultural trickle effect.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1343954/100-000-Islam-converts-living-UK-White-women-keen-embrace-Muslim-faith.html

Islam is not really that different to Christianity, same god, many of the same prophets and rules. Its not a completely foreign concept.

My point was that there are no children who grow up with no concept or exposure to religion/belief in a god, or there are very very few at least, so we can't know if people who are introduced to it for the very first time as adults are likely to sign up and in what numbers.

digitalphase

Tiddlywinks wrote: »

How many people have their children's ears pierced before they are old enough to make that decision for themselves?

Argh, I HATE that sort of chavvy behaviour! Deliberately wounding your child, and making them look bl%dy stupid in the process.... Well done, those parents!

Tiddlywinks

onlyroz wrote: »

.... But irreversibly enrol them into your faith before they have a hope of understanding the implications - this I have a big problem with. In my view this is akin to things like arranged marriages.

Children christened are perfectly able to lapse in following the faith of their parents - this kind of scaremongering is just ridiculous - the church doesn't hunt down those that no longer attend church you know!

Good grief, some people are acting as if a christening is a sort of evil ceremony where the soul is promised to the dark side - do let's all get a grip.

GettingItRight

If you do not know much about your religion, best not to christen the baby. Give the baby the freedom of choice later in life and not to be forced into a religion by parents. This is what my parents did for me and my brother.

My brother has since joined the Christian club from choice. I attended a church for the second time, while in Portugal (but only to support my partner, she is catholic).

I cannot say that I will join a religion as such. The sermon I went to in Lisbon was very anti-gay and I did not agree with the comments made and watching a video of people jumping off a bridge somewhere in USA was depressing.

RichGold

mrcow wrote: »

You do know that you have to make a declaration of faith at a baptism?

Is it Ok to lie in front of a God you don't believe in?

Just a thought....

erichamster

Torry_Quine wrote: »

I can't see the wind but I can feel the results of its actions. I can't see the love of my family but I can see the results. The same is true of God.

This is just plain wrong, of course you can't see the wind but you feel its actions, and you can't see the love of your family but you feel it. However you see no actions or effects of god in the world whatsoever, because there aren't any, what you're seeing are the beautiful and elegant effects of physics and evolution.