Getting de- Baptized

Possible but highly unlikely. I think that the French have gotten around to having government bureaucracies.

In many European countries until a few years ago the church books were used for keeping lists of people´s birth, baptism, marriage and death and also immigration.
Now adays these books are of great importance for people interested in family history. Being removed out of the church books, would change the family history.
The books also have interest for research of different kinds.

With fundamentalist I mean someone who is very intolerant when it comes to other people´s beliefs. If you cannot accept being baptized you are intolerant and in my opinion a fundamentalist.
But what there are people who love to take any chance they have to pick on others for nothing.
On the other hand I am not the only one using the expression atheistic fundamentalism.
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Some Christian theologians, some fundamentalists, and others pejoratively refer to any philosophy which they see as literal-minded or they believe carries a pretense of being the sole source of objective truth as fundamentalist, regardless of whether it is usually called a religion. For instance, the Archbishop of Wales has criticized "atheistic fundamentalism" broadly[16][17][18] and said "Any kind of fundamentalism, be it Biblical, atheistic or Islamic, is dangerous,"[19] He also said, "the new fundamentalism of our age....leads to the language of expulsion and exclusivity, of extremism and polarisation, and the claim that, because God is on our side, he is not on yours."[20]

Well, beyond specifying intolerance, that pretty much does nothing to answer my question. Do you think that such intolerance is endemic in atheists? Do you not recognize that one can tolerate that others do not think as one does oneself?

As for the "Archbishop of Wales" (is that an elective post?), he sounds like a wanker to me. The intolerance of the "god on our side attitude" is as old as organized religion, it's certainly not "the new fundamentalism of our age." Maybe he doesn't read much.

It makes one intolerant - a fundamentalist - when we reject baptism? Not so. I say it more likely makes one a fundamentalist to want to force baptism on the unwilling.

Sure. If gangs are kidnapping people to forcibly dunk them under water, that would be a little extreme. I don't think that is actually happening, is it?

Is does not make a person a fundamentalist, when they reject baptism, as long as they allow others to be baptized. It is a personal question.
The problem here is a man who wants to be de-baptized. Why not just leave the church and that´s it?

Well there are people who force their children to be baptized. No, not as babies but as young children of ages 5 or 6 or a little older. Much along the lines of Mrs.H. who in years gone past was very upset with my mother who indicated that my sister wouldn't be taking part in the confirmation at the Methodist church we attended. My sister didn't want to become a member and my mother let her have her beliefs. Mrs.H. told our mother that she had to have my sister confirmed in the church. Mother for her part had only insisted that my sister attend all the confirmation classes, after that it would be my sister who decided. For all my the insanity my mother had, when it came to religious freedoms she was quite sane. For the record, at the time my sister was about 12 or 13, which back then was a somewhat standard age for confirmation. Let me check....no, she may have been closer to 14. I was confirmed just after I turned 13 according to the inscription date in the bible which was given me by the confirmation class teacher.

Looking back I wonder if the several children of Mrs.H. wanted to be confirmed or were they forced by a most likely well meaning mother. As I indicated earlier, I willingly joined the Methodist Church and had a hell of a time getting my membership cancelled. I never attempted to get my baptism revoked or whatever that rabbi and his crew performed.
Timeline________Rabbi and crew get me, age about a week______baptized as a Methodist, 3 months and 19 days old_____________confirmed as a Methodist, 13 and 2 weeks of age______sent several letters asking to be pulled from membership rolls, repeatedly denied, spoke directly to the pastor a few times, between ages 19 and 30 finally stopped asking___________mother died, I was 38______at age 40-something, the church finally dropped me from their list. It took more than two decades to get out. Compared to our French friend of this thread topic, I did well in my endeavor. For the record, I never tried or asked about having the Jewish rites dissolved (might be a bit hard to do).

Maybe they didn't want me to leave because of the successful blood drive I had participated in years before. (you ever find yourself asking the dean of discipline at your school to give blood? It's a strange experience)

You're not making any sesnse. He's not saying he doesn't want other people to be baptized.

That's right. Anybody wanting to get baptized has my approval. But, an underage person is a different story. If any of these wants to be de-baptized, I am on their side.

Being de-baptized doesn't make any sense. The first time I was baptized there was water sprinkled on my head. Can water be unsprinkled? Baptism doesn't make any permanent change in a person's life that can be undone. It is meaningful if you believe in it. If you don't believe in it than it has no meaning.

I think that what you want is some kind of ritual de-baptism from the church. I don't see how the church is responsible for such a ritual, nor do I see how it would be meaningful in any way (and I speak as an atheist who was baptized as a child).

Now, if someone wanted to be de-circumcised, that would be another story. At least then there is something real that could be done, although I still don't think I would be returning to a religious authority to have this procedure.

You're focusing too much on the physical ritual. That's not what is being requested.

Being de-citizenified probably strikes you as odd too but it happens all the time. There's no need for a formal ceremony.

I no longer want to belong to your club, for the following reasons: [___], [___], [___] and [___]. Strike me from the roll.

Any club has the right to ignore your request (provided they aren't charging you) and most of them probably would. If you don't want to be a part of a club, just stop going.

You're normally more discerning, Max.

If removing an entry is a ritual, so be it.

What if I want to de-graduate from my high school?

I'd like to have all references to the KKK removed from textbooks.

That'll mean they were never part of American history.

Right?

All of both of your scenarios are about something else. We are discussing a religious organization that baptizes little kids. This is part of a move to gain control over and mold the inner being. A cradle to grave enterprise. If they don't want to be part of it, it is not that hard to strike the entry and let them go, totally.

Not even close to the same thing, Beth.



US history is already so sanitized, filled with propaganda, that this would hardly make any difference whatsoever.

It just doesn't make sense Edgar. If this guy just walked away, how would the church have any "control over ... his inner being"? Why can't he do what I did and just forget about it? As I said before, the Baptists still think I am going to heaven. It is not worth the effort to fight them on that point since it doesn't impact my life in the least.

I also don't understand why a religious organization should treated differently in this regard than an education organization. My education was done to me as a kid and has had a far more profound impact on my inner being than my baptisms did.

And I really don't see why circumcism, also done by a religious organization in an attempt to mold inner beings as part of a lifetime membership, isn't a much bigger deal.