why did you have your child christened?

[startingtobehalloweenylover]

there have been so many threads from people who want to have their child christened but know nothing about church protocol or have been refused as they don't attend.

I just wondered why, if you don't attend church and aren't a practising christian... why would you want to get your child christened?

don't you feel slightly hypocritical standing in a church and saying that you will bring your kid up to believe in god etc etc when you know you won't?

this isn't aimed at anyone particularly btw, just general nosiness

Sod the religous mombo jumbo both dd's have been done but mainly because we had loads of trouble getting married (registry) cos dh hadn't been done and of course a great excuse for a piss up

i used to go to church and now i don't, i am not a practising christian and i currently don't attend church, in the same breath i no longer do alot of things like i used to before i had children!!
even when i did go to church i would never judge those who held ceremonies and didnt go regularly, your religion is personal to you and going to a church doesnt confirm to yourself what your beliefs are....it only confirms your beliefs to others....if you need to confirm who you are to others then thats fine....but i dont. this doesnt mean my faith is any less........ the question merely comes down to what do you believe a christian to be and how do you think they should practice their faith....thats me done...i am off to get a glass of wine

I agree with startingtobehalloweenylover, but I think that as an ex-Catholic, now aethiest, I have much stronger views than most people I know on this sort of subject. I understand what faith means, and the reason why I no longer go to church is that I find it deeply hypocritical to say words that I do not in any way mean. I have not had my children christened, and do not feel this disadvantages them in any way. They will not be attending religious schools, and whilst they will grow up learning all about religions (my parents are practicing Christians, my mother taught comparative RE, my big sister is a vicar, and I studied Islam at university - oh and we live in London) we do not intend to sway them one way or another. They can decide what they would like to do when they are older, and if they wish to become churchgoers (of any denomination or faith) then we will need to support them in that (although I draw the line at sects!). I think that adult ceremonies are much more significant in any case, and would go with the dedication approach if I had faith.

Most churches are short of parishioners, and will welcome parents for christenings, in the hope that they may come back. However I do know a number of people who have had their children Christened because they think it the "done thing". Few godparents seem to even keep in touch with their godchildren, and I do think it is a misuse of a solemn ceremony. As a Catholic I was brought up to believe that unChristened children went to limbo, which seems extraordinary to me (one of the many reasons why I am an aethist). If there was a God then surely he will know all children regardless, and welcome them into heaven should anything happen to them (unless they had managed to be deeply nasty and unrepentant, I guess). The welcome into the Church community, and giving thanks thing is another aspect entirely, but surely you would need to have some feeling that that church is your community for this to be meaningful?

We didn't do a naming ceremony, although I did some research into them, and quite liked the idea. Maybe there is a gap for people with some belief, who wish to have a ceremony, but where a formal church christening is possibly not the most appropriate?

My parents make significant donations to the church financially for the upkeep of the building and also run fund raisers twice a year for the church. None of us goes except for dd's christening & maybe at Xmas. And none of us is a practising christian.

If practising christians think it is wrong of me to have my dd christened in church then I am not suprised that chuch congregations are falling because I find this pretty intolerant as an attitude. Should churches perhaps refuse all financial donations from non-practising christians?