Tisket
04-15-2009, 09:28 PM
A group in England is organizing a de-baptism movement.
(http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1891230,00.html?cnn=yes)
According to Argentine campaigner Ariel Bellino, a former Catholic: "The church counts all those who've been baptized as Catholic and lobbies for legislation based on that number, so we're trying to convey the importance of people expressing they no longer belong to the church."
....
Back in Britain, Michael Evans, an atheist and former journalist who downloaded the de-baptism certificate in March, believes the Church of England claims more members than it actually has in order to shore up its influence in the secular world. "It claims to speak for the majority of people in Britain," he says. Official estimates are that fewer than one million Britons regularly attend Sunday services, but there are currently 26 Church of England bishops sitting in the House of Lords. "With churches, everybody checks in, but nobody checks out," says Evans, who was baptized as an infant. "There's no exit strategy except the funeral."
I don't know that this would have any real impact on churches using inflated member counts to increase their political and secular influence, especially the Catholic church. Once baptised that's pretty much all she wrote. You can be a good Catholic, a bad Catholic, a lapsed Catholic and even an excommunicated Catholic (just a Catholic who is ineligible to receive the Sacraments) but you can't stop being Catholic. Still, for all you PC heretics, here is a chance to spit in the churches face:
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w66/Sassy_Photos_2007/debaptism.jpg
(http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1891230,00.html?cnn=yes)
According to Argentine campaigner Ariel Bellino, a former Catholic: "The church counts all those who've been baptized as Catholic and lobbies for legislation based on that number, so we're trying to convey the importance of people expressing they no longer belong to the church."
....
Back in Britain, Michael Evans, an atheist and former journalist who downloaded the de-baptism certificate in March, believes the Church of England claims more members than it actually has in order to shore up its influence in the secular world. "It claims to speak for the majority of people in Britain," he says. Official estimates are that fewer than one million Britons regularly attend Sunday services, but there are currently 26 Church of England bishops sitting in the House of Lords. "With churches, everybody checks in, but nobody checks out," says Evans, who was baptized as an infant. "There's no exit strategy except the funeral."
I don't know that this would have any real impact on churches using inflated member counts to increase their political and secular influence, especially the Catholic church. Once baptised that's pretty much all she wrote. You can be a good Catholic, a bad Catholic, a lapsed Catholic and even an excommunicated Catholic (just a Catholic who is ineligible to receive the Sacraments) but you can't stop being Catholic. Still, for all you PC heretics, here is a chance to spit in the churches face:
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w66/Sassy_Photos_2007/debaptism.jpg