(RNS1-JUL20) Marni Huebner-Tiborsky of Cleveland pretends to faint while getting 'de-baptized' by American Atheists' Legal Director, Edwin Kagin, at the Atheist Coming Out Party and De-Baptism Bash in Westerville, Ohio, last summer. For use with RNS-DE-BAPTISM, transmitted July 20, 2009. Religion News Service photo courtesy Hemant Mehta. |
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(RNS2-JUL20) Edwin Kagin, legal director for American Atheists, wears a 'priestly' robe and readies his blow drier for 'de-baptisms' at the Atheist Coming Out Party and De-Baptism Bash in Westerville, Ohio, last summer. For use with RNS-DE-BAPTISM, transmitted July 20, 2009. Religion News Service photo courtesy Hemant Mehta. |
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July 20, 2009
NEWS FEATURE
Atheists choose `de-baptism’ to renounce childhood faith
By G. Jeffrey MacDonald
(UNDATED) Up until last summer, Jennifer Gray of Columbus, Ohio, considered herself “a weak Christian” whose baptism at age 11 in a Kentucky church came to mean less and less to her as she gradually lost faith in God.
Then the 32-year-old medical transcriptionist took a decisive step, one that previously hadn’t been available. She got “de-baptized.”
In a type of mock ceremony that’s now been performed in at least four states, a robed “priest” used a hairdryer marked “reason” in an apparent bid to blow away the waters of baptism once and for all. Several dozen participants then fed on a “de-sacrament” (crackers with peanut butter) and received certificates assuring they had “freely renounced a previous mistake, and accepted Reason over Superstition.”
For Gray, the lighthearted spirit of last summer’s Atheist Coming Out Party and De-Baptism Bash in suburban Westerville, Ohio, served a higher purpose than merely spoofing a Christian rite.
“It was very therapeutic,” Gray said in an interview. “It was a chance to laugh at the silly things I used to believe as a child. It helped me admit that it was OK to think the way I think and to not have any religious beliefs.”
Within the past year, “de-baptism” ceremonies have attracted as many as 250 participants at atheist conventions in Ohio, Texas, Florida and Georgia. More have taken place on college campuses in recent years, according to Hemant Mehta, chair of the board of directors for the Secular Student Alliance, a group that promotes atheism among high school and college students.
“If we’re having a winter solstice or summer solstice get-together or some other event, we might say: `Who wants to get de-baptized?”’ said Greg McDowell, the Florida state director for American Atheists, an advocacy and networking group. “It’s a bit of satire. People will play the fool by waving their arms in the air and saying, `I got de-baptized!’ But the paperwork is still legit.”
Some of the so-called “de-baptized” have used their certificates to petition churches to remove their names from baptismal rolls. One argument: they were baptized without their consent as children and should now be declared de-baptized.
Some churches, however, aren’t budging on what they regard as an irreversible sacrament.
Atheist Gary Mueller recently mailed his de-baptism certificate to St. Bonaventure Catholic Church in Concord, Calif., and asked to be dropped from its baptismal record. The church told him, in effect, that he was all wet.
“While we do not remove a name/person from a Baptism register, we can note alongside your name that `you have left the Roman Catholic Church,”’ the Rev. Richard Mangini replied in an e-mail. “I hope that God surprises you one day and lets you know that He is quite well.”
In Christian theology, baptism can’t be undone. If a Southern Baptist renounces his or her baptism, then that person is usually presumed to have never received an authentic baptism in the first place, according to Nathan Finn, assistant professor of Baptist studies at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C.
For mainline Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox Christians, baptism is commonly understood as a sign or means of grace and a covenant that God maintains even when humans turn away, said Laurence Stookey, professor emeritus of preaching and worship at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington. He said “de-baptizers” misunderstand baptism when they caricature it as an attempt at magic.
Baptism “is a kind of adoption where you become a child of God, of the church and of the family,” Stookey said. “You can renounce your physical parents, (the church and God), but they cannot renounce you because you are their child. Anybody who makes fun of baptism probably hasn’t gone into it in enough depth to know that.”
De-baptism efforts have been growing internationally in recent years. More than 100,000 Britons downloaded de-baptism certificates from the National Secular Society (NSS) between 2005 and 2009, according to NSS campaigner Stephen Evans. Upwards of 1,000 Italians requested de-baptism certificates prior to Italy’s “De-Baptism Day” last October, according to Italy’s Union of Rationalist Atheists and Agnostics.
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Public ceremonies to confer de-baptism, however, seem to be primarily an American phenomenon.
“I think a de-baptism ceremony (in Europe) would strike a lot of secularists and atheists as kind of pointless,” Evans said. “They would leave the ceremonies to the religious.”
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Not all American non-believers have warmed to de-baptism rituals. Secularist Phil Zuckerman, a Pitzer College sociologist who studies apostates, said he would never take part in such an event because it “feels intrinsically negative” and “immature.”
Even so, he said, de-baptisms may serve a cathartic function for some participants, as well as a political one.
“For a long time, non-religious people in the Bible Belt just kept quiet, but they aren’t keeping quiet anymore,” Zuckerman said. “I think that’s largely a reaction to George W. Bush’s presidency. (Atheists) were saying, `The government is being taken over by very religious people. We need to stand up and say: We’re here. We’re secular. Deal with it.“‘
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Atheist groups expect more de-baptisms in years ahead. Mehta, of the Secular Students Alliance, says college groups already bring blow driers to campus recruitment events, offering to de-baptize undergraduates on the spot.
Meanwhile, organizers of de-baptisms are broadening their mockery to include other religions. At the American Atheists’ national convention in Atlanta last April, the de-baptism event included a dance where women in burqas stripped down to red-sequined leotards, according to Blair Scott, the group’s national affiliate director.
The goal, he said, was to say blasphemy shouldn’t be prohibited.
“We made fun of Islam, we made fun of Hinduism, we made fun of Christianity with intent to be blasphemous on purpose to make a point” about a proposed anti-blasphemy initiative at the United Nations, Scott said. “It’s not done with malice or intent to offend. But anytime you criticize religion or poke fun at what atheists would call the sillier parts of religion, you’re going to offend somebody. There’s just no way around that.”
Comments
I have to say that I found this article sort of humorous! Baptism doesn’t save a person and gets them into heaven,it’s an outward testimony that they have accepted and loves the Lord Jesus Christ which is why I personally do not have my children baptised, I have them dedicated which means we are as their parents are presenting our children to God, that we vow to pray for them, teach and guide them to know Christ as their Savior and all............I do not believe that just because these people were baptised as babies that they were guarenteed a spot in heaven but it’s a sign that the parents made a vow to God and that cannot be erased or blowed dried away...To each their own but attempting to erase God away, well God can take it and he will have the last word, blow drying the beliefs of our parents away doesn’t change anything, just gives one the sense of being in control...and that’s what I think it;s all about
Posted by JET—July 20, 2009, 10:51 pm
I’m the Jennifer Gray who is quoted at the beginning of the article. Just two minor nitpicks, which I’m sure are my fault because this was my first interview with a reporter and I was very nervous.
Firstly, I should have used the term “cultural Christian” to describe myself before the Coming Out party in Westerville rather than “weak Christian.” I didn’t believe in the Christian God or in any of the supernatural elements of Christianity, but I was raised in a conservative Christian household and attended church with them off and on until about age 23. I did believe wholeheartedly when I was baptized at age 11, ....but I was 11 years old. At that age, I still believed that my dad was the smartest man in the entire world and that I would be a famous architect when I grew up!
Secondly, the article makes it sound like I sought out the the de-baptism “ceremony” (in quotes because there was nothing serious or ceremonial about it) as a way to renounce my former faith. In reality, I attended the party to socialize with other non-believers. I didn’t even know they were doing a de-baptism until someone said, “Hey, wanna get de-baptized?” It was a very light-hearted, silly, fun time. I wasn’t trying to make a statement or take a “decisive step,” as the article says. It also wasn’t meant to be offensive in any way. I felt that we (both the participants and the observers) were making fun of our own former beliefs, the beliefs we held when we were baptized in the first place.
All in all, though, this is a very positive article. If you’re interested, you can read my first-hand account of the event at http://www.myspace.com/jenigray2000.
Posted by Jennifer Gray—July 21, 2009, 12:24 am
Does not the Bible Say people will be losing their faith in the end times. People love to do what is wrong and feel that is the way God created them, give me what I want. That is what lead us into the world wide economical, religious and governmental problems. God has a plan and when we obey His we find fulfillment and contenment regardless of the circumstance.
God is a personal God even through He created us to enjoy His creation and be blessed. Are we seeing blessing to day in abiding in the vine or are we seeing people abiding in their own selfishness?
Who are you serving? Who are you blessing? Big questions for the only answer is man; Satan, or God?
Which will it be a heaven or hell for the final resting place?
Chose this day whom you will serve, time is short call upon Him while you able not forced.
Blessing to you all, keep your faith in the BIBLE and watch what God is able to do in your life.
Posted by Jerral Campfield—July 25, 2009, 4:35 pm
Atheists and Gnostics are right in most of their thinking
It has been common among religious believers to look with misgiving to atheists and Gnostics, and to think that they are mistaken; however, in many instances the opposite is the truth; some religious beliefs are not just irrelevant, but baseless. The “God” of main line traditions simply does not exist. I accepted the challenge of finding the One who may be recognized even by Gnostics and atheists: the Existence itself, “All-That-Is.” If something is there, that is God. Look at the book “Christianity Reformed From ist Roots - A life centered in God” (Amazon.com). I am confident that some of your friends will be relieved of the illusion, as I did myself.
Jairo Mejia, M. Psych., Santa Clara University
Retired Episcopal Priest
Carmel Valley, California
http://www.mbay.net/~jmejia/Grudzen.htm
http://www.mbay.net/~jmejia/Churcher.htm
Posted by Jairo Mejia—July 29, 2009, 1:26 pm
I think it’s funny that people are so ignorant to think that “blowing away” their baptisim will make God go away. Or simply stop believing in Him because they didn’t get what they wanted in life. Or life wasn’t done thier way. It’s like believing that a Doctor doesn’t exist when you are dying of pneumonia beacuse you don’t want to believe you have pneumonia. The symptoms will always be there till you die, and so will the Doctor to give you proper medication to be healed. To top it off, they make fun of it, not even understanding the implications of their choice.
Posted by M.D.S—August 10, 2009, 2:17 pm
No, MDS, that’s not it at all. You should talk to non-believers and try to understand our position better. In fact, feel free to e-mail me and ask any questions you’d like. Having grown up in a religious family, I feel like I’m in a somewhat unique position to explain and understand both sides. I’d be happy to answer your questions.
Posted by Jennifer Gray—August 10, 2009, 3:23 pm
