To laugh at the request to be godparents

[Woollypullover]

My friend's daughter, who we've been very close to throughout her life, has asked me and DH to be her baby's godparents.

We're both atheists and of course, therefore, didn't have our own DC christened.

She knows all of this, but still asked.

AIBU to think this is a ridiculous request?

Not ridiculous at all - I'm athiest. My DCs all have god-parents (Hindu, Christian and athiest) who were chosen because of their values / all round decency, not for their religious beliefs.

If you live in England, you do. You may not like it, but we have a head of state who is the head of the church of England, and just because people are free to be whatever religion or none they choose, doesn't change the actual state.

I answered this earlier but had a thought about it. The Ten Commandments are not 'laws' in the sense of being against the law in the UK. They are rules for life. Thus, adultery is not now (possibly, it's a marital crime like Domestic Abuse, and a cause for divorce) a crime but it is a moral failing and it is the moral failings listed in the Ten Commandments upon which the laws of Christian countries are based.

Or they are doing it because it's a culturally traditional thing to do and doesn't harm anyone. They probably, shock horror, celebrate Christmas and Easter too. I assume @Woollypullover doesn't though, because of the religious connotations.

Britain isn't Christian in any meaningful sense. Women have had the vote for over a century, despite the church's objections. It's illegal for a man to beat or rape his own wife, even though the Bible makes it clear women are the property of their husbands. It's legal to be gay - in fact, same-sex marriage has been legal for nearly a decade (and civil partnerships were legalised a decade before that).

Politely decline, don't make a big deal out of it, perhaps say you think that it should be someone who is a Christian.

A lot of the Easter and Christmas traditions pre-date Christianity and come from pagan origins. Basically they were seasonal celebrations that got co-opted. You can celebrate those without having to adopt any of the baby Jesus stuff if you want.

Whereas participating in a christening involves making promises about guiding the child in faith.

This

Wouldn't want you as my child's godparents if I saw this... how nasty, they clearly have lots of undeserved respect for you

I see the usual suspects are mistakenly conflating Christian with Old Testement.. which tells us everything about your understanding (and lack thereof) of Christianity.

But still is a Christian country - and many would say that the things you list are in themselves Christian, even if their opposites are found in the Bible. The Bible was written between 2 and 3 thousand years ago, one would not expect it all to be applicable now. It was Christian countries that decided slavery was wrong, too, and that's found in the Bible (mainly instruction on how to treat slaves well - because slavery was so usual that there were instructions for managing it), so presumably Christians should still keep slaves to be Christian? (NB when men became Christians in the ancient world one of the promises they made was to no longer rape their slaves).

Britain isn't Christian in any meaningful sense.
Yes, apart from the legal sense, the head of state being the head of the church, bishops having seats in the house of lords, the majority religion being Christian, a third of state schools being church schools and all schools having mandatory daily acts of worship and mandatory religious education.

But apart from that, hardly at all.

How is it a Christian country if there a fewer Christians than non-Christians? How small would the Christian population have to be for you to say we were no longer a Christian country? 30%? 10%?

If no-one who lived in the country believed in Jesus as God, would you still say it's a Christian country?

You evicting Charlie?

I wouldn't agree to do everything in my power to raise a child into that religion.

Would you go into a mosque and pledge before god to bring a baby up in the true faith of Islam?

Is your answer "one Christian is enough"?

No, I just thought it was amusing to think of throwing his Maj out. I'm all for it 😁.

We'd have to make some changes in the way things are set up constitutionally to make the UK a secular country.

None of that is meaningful. It's all just lip service. It has nothing to do with the way British people live their lives. The head of the Church of England is married to the woman he cheated on his first wife, FFS! Premarital sex, divorcing a violent spouse, and remarriage after divorce are all completely socially acceptable nowadays. As I said in my previous post, the British legal system's attitude to women and gay people is completely contrary to the Bible. Women aren't property in the UK - in fact, we're allowed to own property!

If the foundation of the country is still on that basis, then yes. If all the English people moved out of England, it would still be England.

Christmas and Easter are Christian festivals. If you want to celebrate the pagan traditions around the same time then please do so, but don't wish people Merry Christmas, send Christmas cards or eat Easter eggs unless you want to be a hypocrite - those are specifically Christian and if you disagree with the word God and standing in a church you shouldn't then agree with celebrating Christian festivals.

I'm always fascinated by how an egg (which has obvious symbolism of fertility and spring) became a Christian one.

if it is a standard Cof E service, then you have to make promises to teach the child about God and to bring them up as part of the church community.
Parents have to make those promises too!

Very odd thing to do if you don't believe. I have never understood how people can stand there and make these promises when they have no intention of carrying them through. It makes me wonder about other promises, like marriage vows.

Christening is a baptism service, being baptised into the church. Why do that if you don't believe?

I know a lot of churches these days offer a blessing service or a dedication service instead, but again, not sure why you would do that if you don't believe.

I had a friend at uni whose sister had her baby christened. Friend was really pleased to be asked to be a godparent, even though she was radically athiest. I just could not get my head round it at all.

Totally agree and don’t know why she’d want you at all, you sound like the type of “everyone is entitled to MY opinion” person that I’d want my kids to avoid at all costs.

Sneery mocking atheism is just as bad as intense forced religious preaching. To each their own.

by the way, in the UK, godparent is nothing to do with who will look after your kids if you die.
If you have asked someone to be a godparent on that basis, it won't happen, you need to put it in your will.

In some other parts of the world, godparent does assume a responsibility to take on the child if parents die and is therefore a much more serious role to say yes to.