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Dec 29th, 2019
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People who were baptised as young children are being given the chance to fill in a "certificate of debaptism" if they do not regard themselves as Christian. The Church of England will not make changes to the official record, so the form is essential for those who wish to have their non-belief officially recognised. Robert Pigott reports (video) http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7943426.stm
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I wish I thought this was a joke. Unfortunately I'm already aware of it in a few other connections. It might make a thin modicum of sense in, say, Germany, where the Churches are subsidized from tax money - one can issue a declaration that one does not belong to any organized religion and the tax money should therefore go to a cultural fund.
But that is not quite the same thing as purporting to "undo" a Sacrament by fiat. Can anyone seriously imagine a bishop "unbaptizing" someone by signing a piece of paper?
Fr. Serge
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Never heard of this before. Lord, have mercy! 
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I pray they really don't know what they are doing. This is what the Bible says, and they want to 'deny' their Baptism for the sake of money. Oh my!
Romans 10L
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Everyone who acknowledges me before others I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father.
33
But whoever denies me before others, I will deny before my heavenly Father.
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Actually its just the Humanits trying to make noise. They ant to impoe their beleifs on all of soicety, including the Churches. They know full well you cant be "debapptised", but want to force the Churches into accepting them as Debptised in order to fulfill some silly little nonsense norion they have that they can undo sacraments.
Its just a power play, nothing more.
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I thought I read somewhere that you can do this in Poland as well: unbelievers can have a note added to church records acknowledging their unbelief. But yes, as Anglicans, RCs and Orthodox agree there is no such thing as debaptism and this is just anti-religious people making noise.
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I thought I read somewhere that you can do this in Poland as well: unbelievers can have a note added to church records acknowledging their unbelief. But yes, as Anglicans, RCs and Orthodox agree there is no such thing as debaptism and this is just anti-religious people making noise. In baptism we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. In 'debaptism' what we see are persons that were given that gift but are clearly rejecting it. The one unforgiveable sin is 'blasphame against the Holy Spirit', which as I understand it, is rejecting God. It seems to me that is what these poor troubled persons are doing...they are not requesting this pathetic action to join another organized faith tradition of Christianity, nor even to join another one of the major monotheistic religions. They are blatantly and somewhat angrily, denying, rejecting, and blaspheming God in all understandings of Him, as well as the gift of baptism which they were given by their Christian parents in order to attain grace as members of His Body. It is very sad and unfortunate...may our Lord God bring them to repentence and peace. Alice
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Of course a person cannot be "unbaptized"! By baptism we are joined permanently and inseparably to Christ's mystical body. If someone makes a formal act of defection from the Church, that person becomes an apostate, heretic or schismatic (as the case may be), but he is still a baptized Christian, whether he likes it or not!
Last edited by Latin Catholic; 03/29/09 02:22 PM.
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I heard of a satanic ritual of debatpism where the person is dunked three times in a place where no person should be dunked. Satanists doing it, I could believe.... but the Church of England? What's next? Accepting a female priest who also considers herself a Muslim cleric? Wait... they have done that already...
I was of the opinion that the Anglican Church was a learned body of believers, but with every new decision they make I am less and less inclined to believe that.
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Christ is in our midst!! He is and always will be!!
I think the original reason for this thread has passed and we are now proceeding down a road that is uncharitable.
Since this is Great Lent, it seems to me we need to stop, shed a tear or two, and pray for those who think it is "the thing they need to do" to throw the gift of Baptism back into God's Face.
Before it goes any farther, I am closing this thread.
Lord, have mercy on all of us.
BOB
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Certificate of Debaptism - Video [ breitbart.tv] All of this atheist nonsense has led to new, creative ways of apostasy. 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.
... 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." As I recall reading, when Julian the Apostate wanted to renounce his baptism, he had himself baptized in the blood of bulls. Far messier, yet far more dramatic than downloading a document off of the internet!
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