baptising an atheist's child?

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I hope you understood me as presenting the same idea because that's what I meant. You should be able to have your choice between schools that present a Christian theistic viewpoint and one that doesn't. If not, I'd hope you'd understand that a lack of such education in school simply means that you're afforded the opportunity to instill such views yourself and if evolution is a point of contention for you (as you've indicated here) that you'd teach your children to take in such information and give it as needed while trying to apply different theories outside to be able to forge new grounds*.


*While I may not agree with you, I understand very well that scientific study relies on not simply the popular idea but also those who are willing to study outside those lines and willing to follow where those studies go and willing to do a fair intellectual battle on such matters.

Proposing to reform education is an idea that is vastly underestimated in cost and underestimated even more in long term value.

Not to say that educators should be given more money for a free pass on what their students do in class and on tests but rather that correctly measuring education and where one may be best suited versus another is a very specialized task that needs to start early in high school and continue through the higher education of college and beyond.

Which is unfortunate in that it demands a slowing down of society in ways that society isn't willing to yet accept but is necessary to properly achieve the highest potential from all those involved.

Next day deliveries need to wait for inflation to be properly adjusted. :p (and that statement has implications far beyond its statement and into the general economics of the fiat monetary system and how our society operates)

Last edited by skafather84 on 17 Oct 2010, 4:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I'd say to wait untill the child is older and then ask them if they want to be baptized.

I went through a similar experience with my own kids. My husband was raised protestant but soon became an athiest and now is agnostic. I was raised Catholic (with a Jewish, non-practicing dad) and became agnostic soon after high school. After our 1st kid was born, my family just assumed that we would baptise him, even though they knew we didn't practice any sort of religion. When they found out that it wasn't going to happen - they were pissed. We received prayer cards and some family members wouldn't even talk to us for quite some time. They argued that we had to remove our baby's sins which just sounded completely absurd to us. The biggest argument for baptism that we heard was that we had to have a baptism celebration in order to receive gifts. Clearly they found money to be a worthy cause for going against our beliefs . Anyway, eventually they all got over it and after our 2nd kid was born, it never even became an issue. My point is that the parents alone should choose how their children should be raised with respect to religion. I would go even further and say that the child should decide for him/herself when they are old enough, but that's just my opnion.

It is Sunday now. What happened? Did the girl get baptized or did the family back down?

Inquiring minds want to know.

i find out today.

I don't and I would advise you to send your children to an atheist school, if there is such a thing.

No such thing.

If the kid legitimately desires to affirm his own personal faith, then great for him.

Ultimately, it is a human beings individual right to choose and pursue such a thing, or to completely not pursue it. I think it's right to honor that individual decision.

Would it surprise you if the answer is "A school that teaches the religion of evolution"?

That's a bit creepy.

If we were dealing with a 16-year-old who really believed in Christianity and wanted to be baptized, I wouldn't have an issue with it. But we're dealing with an 18-month-old who probably hasn't learned to speak his first language, let alone think about tough philosophical or theological issues.

At the same time, if I really believed that baptism was necessary for the infant's salvation (which I don't), I would have probably done the same thing.

he ended up letting them go through with it.


it's pretty depressing.

i guess it was going to be a "really big deal" for them to cancel it and he decided to concede rather than cause family drama.

i'm really angry about this. he's been quiet since giving in.

it's not the end of the world. it just sucks.



honestly, i'm a bit disappointed in my friend. i can't say he made a bad call, though. canceling the baptism would have forced a discussion few of us are willing to have with our families.

i can only speak for myself, but i can't help but think i'd be more willing to engage religionists in my extended family if they followed (or, ffs, knew more about) their own religions.

i know i give keet a lot of crap for his beliefs, but at least he's committed to his cause. those with a less strict interpretation of their book just chalk up any inconstancy to metaphor. at least keet understands that the premise is "magic is real." i think my biggest issue talking to any other religionists on wrongplanet is the no true scotsman fallacy. the thing is, there isn't a single "true christian" to be found if you believe any of them.

the same is true of every religious sect and faction.

if only i had more faith... i could just pretend it didn't matter.

Personally, I think that it is the height of presumptuousness for people who are not the parents of a child to conduct themselves in this way.

But it would also be the height of presumptuousness for me to call into question a parent's decision to take the path of least resistance in order to maintain family peace and quiet.

If one believes that baptism is an empty gesture, then it follows that there is no particular utility in going to the mat over it. (As you rightly say, waltur, "it's not the end of the world.")

The time to go to the wall for your child is when the life-changing decisions come around--like choice of school, or when your child needs support to stand against an extended family standing in opposition to the child.

(BTW, remember to wear purple on October 20.)

He got played. Like I said: they're the ones who did it without giving him any notice of it. They knew what they were doing by essentially putting him in a position where he could only cancel with less than a week's notice; thereby making him look like the a**hole.

in the end it doesn't really matter if they sprinkle water over him. its kind of silly though.

I've only just come across this thread and the deed has been done. I'm a Protestant and in my opinion your friend should have stood up to his wife's family and refused to have the child baptised, but too late now.

A question for him to consider though. Why did they wait until the child was a toddler? Why now? In Scotland, Catholics usually have children baptised when they are days or weeks old. Unless it is the usual practice in your part of the world to wait until later, I would be wondering whether there was some ulterior motive here, apart from the actual baptism.

Could it be that his wife's family want the child to be educated in a Roman Catholic school, for which a certificate of baptism is required for enrolment?

Having let them have their way this time, he may find that they will assume that he will let them have their way in other matters too.