I have been asked to be a godparent but I'm not religious

[Inadilemmahelp]

Name changed as DFriend who I am about to talk about is on here and knows my regular username.

DFriend is my best friend of 20 years, since we were at primary school. She got married a few years back and has recently had her first child.
She is very religious and though I'm not, I have always respected her beliefs (not something we really talk about though, although she knows I'm not really religious- i was brought up in a religious family though so used to go to church with her and her family until i could make the decision for myself not to)

Now the dilemma: she has asked me to be godmother to her DC. I consider myself to be an atheist, and would feel wrong standing up there and being named as godmother when I don't even believe in God. However, I am her closest friend and I know how much it would mean to her.
AIBU to say I can't?

I have a similar situation going on at present.

It's an interesting debate. One half of family is very religious. The other not.

They compromised by having 4 sets of godparents and vows are currently being altered to accommodate the other set.

• non religious set.

I think as long as your decline concentrates on how touched you are to be asked and you offer a substitute position (honorary aunty, setting up a savings account, promises of mentoring etc) that's fine.

vows are currently being altered to accommodate the other set.

Just to be clear, you can't change the vows in the CofE. Other denominations may have more flexibility.

When my husband became godfather to our friends’ DS i’m sure there was a specific variation for him as an atheist...

I think it's fine for you to decline, and explain why. As others have said, say how touched you are to be asked. One of my daughters doesn't have a godfather, because the person we asked wasn't prepared to make the vows (he was happy to renounce the devil but not to turn to Christ).

The vicar was clear that in that case he couldn't be a godfather. The friend
still attended the service and stood with the other godparents, but he isn't officially a godfather.

No, you can’t change Catholic vows either.

You can’t change the wording at our C of E church either - often we have 3 or more families in the service so it’s not practical.

Why would you want someone who made false promises to be the guiding light of your children ps spiritual future?
I’m not sure why committed non believers choose Baptism anyway. Why not opt for a secular naming ceremony?

I think it’s important Godparents agreeing to support the spiritual upbringing of a child, see it as as quite a bid deal. We would not have chosen somebody who had no faith. It wouldn’t have to be the same faith necessarily, but an understanding of the importance of religion to us.
That's how I feel .
I don't understand non religious people choosing to have christenings (often with big parties after) and godparents etc. It makes little sense to me.