Madness!? My atheist friend had her daughter baptised to get her into a faith school

[oliviasmummy]

This is a story about my good friend (you know who you are!!) who recently had her dd (aged 1) baptised. The best school for dd in her area is a C of E primary, and, after enquiring about catchment areas etc she was told that the child should also be baptised to assure entry. This she duly arranged, although feeling, that on the basis of all probability, god does not exist. She does not worship or pray to any such god.
Her argument for doing this is that she wants the best for her child, and if that includes putting dd through some silly ritual that involves water over the head and a nice frilly dress then so be it!
I think that this should be discussed, is she jumping through hoops, as it were, to secure a greater good, or is she being a hypocrite, ignoring her beliefs when it suits?
While I write this as a gentle little probe to annoy, I wonder how other MNers would respond?

prairiemuffin. Yes, my taxes are used to fund lots of things I disapprove of. But I could still access/attend these things if I wanted to. I'm sure I could join the local Morris Dancing club, if I so wished. And that is something I definitely disapprove of. Just too, too silly.

I can not send my children to one of the local schools because it is a 'Faith School.' Yet I am expected to fund it's running costs through my taxes.

OI! what's wrong with Morris Dancing

Put yer bells away, harpsi....

It's just so silly, harpsi.

Why is English National Folk-dancing so daft???

Russian stuff is passionate, ditto Spain and most other countries..

England's seems to involve a load of daft people wearing silly hats and ribbons..

On the 'hip' scale we're probably on a level with Belgium.

May be everyone should have their children done in all faiths just to be on the safe side.
(On Limbo that was never Catholic doctrine required to be believved by the way - just that some Catholics did believe it)

It was in the catechism for a while, I think -- but yes, not official doctrine (I don't know how something can be in the catechism but not doctrine, but it can). Official doctrine has (I think) always been that God is merciful and we don't know what happens to unbaptized babies. But Limbo was taught for quite a while (again without technically being doctrine).

yes, you're right. I expect it's something to do with having a pretty happy and settled history or something.
of course, all folk dance isn't classic Cotswold morris with the hankies etc, or vice versa. there is the clog stuff and the stepping, and the border morris (With the blackened faces) can be a bit less fey.
but overall, you may have a point.

ooOOOooh.now i was taught that limbo was just the 'waiting area' and that u dont stay there indefinitley.

I thought limbo was something you did under a stick after too many tequilas!!

That's Purgatory, which is different again.

(Not referring to Morris dancing, by the way. Although come to think of it... )

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Pruni, at least their music has some passion though?

Our folk music seems always to be sung through the nose. And it's always about dead sailors.

see what damage going to a catholic school has done...i must have been so traumatised i blocked out all the teaching or maybe its the fact that i left junior school in the late 80's and have had 4 children so most of my brain cells have been destroyed.....

incidentally,ds1 did maypole dancing at (c of e) school last year.

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Is 'The Gay Gordons' representative of Scottish folk dancing, Pruni?

"I think of religious schools as a PFi contract gone even worse than normal. The government has used your tax money to pay various organisations to run schools.
If one couldn't ride on a given train run by a private train operator [or attend your local hospital] unless you were a Catholic, you'd be both outraged and quite happy to lie.

You paid for this school, if you have to tell a few lies, so be it. "

OMG! I also agree with DominiConnor. I'm going to have a nice quiet lie down on the sofa.

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Issy. I have also found myself recently nodding at quite a few (but certainly not all) of Domini's posts too.

I'll join you in a lie-down.

Blame Queen Vic, eh?

Who shall we blame for 'The White Heather Club?'

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Me too!

They're just weird.

I would shudder to delve into the psycho-sexual workings of that marriage.

lemonaid,

hope you dont mind me asking, but is the school you are referring to in north west london? it's just that so much of what you have said rings strikingly familiar.

if not, its hsattering to think that other primary school admission procedures are so draconian.

I don't know you all got from Catholic schools to the Krankies, but now you have... There's that story of the stage-hand at a recent panto who inadvertently blundered into Ian and Janette's dressing-room and found them, er, engaged, shall we say... That image will keep some of you awake tonight, I bet!

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