To wonder why non religious people get their babies christened?

[Topsyshair]

Before anyone gets very offended, I do realise that it's entirely up to the parents what they do.

I just wonder the reasoning behind it. I know a few people who are not religious at all, never set foot in a church unless to attend a wedding, yet have their babies christened.

What puzzles me more is some of these people claim to have no money and be very poor but pay for a christening do.

We didn't, I'm a lapsed Catholic and DH lapsed CofE. When it came to school issues, I rather regreted that decision but ultimately I feel if dc want to embrace religion as they get older, they can be christened then and it means more.

She can't unbaptise herself though, can she?

If you don't believe in God you can't believe you were really "baptised" .someone sprayed a bit of water on your head while wearing a silly suit. So what?

It's a bit like the halal threads. Someone said a prayer over your dinner if you don't believe in it , it doesn't matter, does it?

Religions have always had members who are involved in the cultural practices without caring too much about the metaphysical truth claims.

friends who were unwed did it bc they wanted to get married and that as a condition of using the church they wanted to use (ie that the christen their toddler DS.) And when DD came along 3 years later, they did her too, for the party, to make grandparents happy and so that she wasn't the odd one out.

This actually has always annoyed me.
My children aren't christened because I'm not a Christian and I'm not sure my children would want to be christened .
From speculation , I would say the people that don't actually understand the true meaning of christening get their children christened just because they want to appear good on social media or to others .
I would love to hear from people who don't go to church or follow any god that have got their children christened and I'm sure @Topsyshair does too

Interesting little snippet from the BBC

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7941817.stm

What would you like to hear Lola? Plenty of people on here have already explained that in the last 3 pages

Do they actually ask if your dc is baptised on the school application?!

Panicking now because our only local school is a Church of England school!

It's literally 3 minutes walk from our home but I'm panicking they'll be odd if dc isn't baptised. I'd feel like a massive hypocrite though if we had to for school!

They ask for it if they need it, yes. It will be on the councils wesbite and schools admission criteria

Christenings are free and i want my daughter to be able to get married in a church if she wants

Who said that you can't get married in a church if you weren't christened?

My sister wasn't christened but married in church.

Depends on the vicar, it’s their decision.

Pinkypinks-you need to check the school's admission criteria. They will be on their website. Happy to help interpret them if necessary.

Would be rather ridiculous for a vicar to disallow a church going Christian to marry just because their parents didn't get their hem Christened. Yet allow an atheist just because their parents made a choice year ago before they were old enough to make a choice.

Who'd even want to marry in a church like that?

lola212121

This actually has always annoyed me.

Why should it? What's it to you?

From speculation , I would say the people that don't actually understand the true meaning of christening get their children christened just because they want to appear good on social media or to others .
Or because it's been the norm for hundreds of years, and a way of introducing the child to the family.

I would love to hear from people who don't go to church or follow any god that have got their children christened and I'm sure @Topsyshair does too

I had my children christened. I don't believe in anything, but I accept that religion is very important to some people, they derive huge comfort from it. I didn't want to take away my children's choice in the matter. The children of declared atheists don't really have the opportunity to decide for themselves whether or not they want to believe in a God. So for me it was about not forcing my own views on my children.

I agree Lola
I'm not christened as my parents weren't Christians. I wasn't blessed or whatever the equivalent is as a Muslim, Jehovah Witness or Jew as my parents weren't of those religions either. If you aren't a regular church goer you look a bit daft really. I've never been to a Christening as none of my friends are particularly religious so haven't Christened their children.

Loon , probably. I am lazy though and only celebrate festivals once in a while. I did think about a naming ceremony, but it was proving too difficult to get everyone together at the same time.
Believers or not, baptisms have religious significance, and to me it would have been hypocritical to have my DD brought into a religion I don't follow, without consulting her wishes.

Party - just like a wedding. Some people use a church just for social functions and not necessarily for religious reasons.

?? Are you saying poor people don’t care what school their children go to?!

I'd never reduce what's quite a complex issue to one sentence like that, no. But speaking as someone who's done quite a lot of social class moving and code switching, baptising your child purely to try and get them into a better school is not a behaviour one sees so much with people on lower incomes. Not least because faith schools in poorer areas aren't necessarily oversubscribed in the way that ones in richer areas and from what I can see London generally are.

In my low-income area, baptising your kid to get them into a better school would be a logic fail because the faith schools aren't oversubscribed and they all take non-adherents. They're not really any better either. So people baptising their kids aren't doing it for that reason, because it's not a reason that really exists here.

Er there’s a lot of misinformation in this thread.

None of my 5 are christened and all went to the local church school. 2 married in church.

I had my children christened. I don't believe in anything, but I accept that religion is very important to some people But why Christened? Why not another religion's ceremony if religion is important to some people?

Christenings are free and i want my daughter to be able to get married in a church if she wants

You would donate to the church though surely?

Also, plenty of churches will marry you without the need for baptism.

Juells that's kind of contradictory.

Surely by not christening you are leaving the door open? By christening you're making the decision for them.

Your post doesn't make any sense.

There is no misinformation cuppawine. No one said they had to be christened to have those things

I had my children christened. I don't believe in anything, but I accept that religion is very important to some people, they derive huge comfort from it. I didn't want to take away my children's choice in the matter. The children of declared atheists don't really have the opportunity to decide for themselves whether or not they want to believe in a God. So for me it was about not forcing my own views on my children

I’m confused by that. You’ve taken away your child’s choice by getting them christened rather than choosing for themselves as they get older.

I don’t agree that children of atheists have no opportunity to choose. I’ve always made it very clear to DD that what I believe is just that and she can choose her own path and if she wants to go to church I’ll facilitate that.