Secular group challenges Catholic Church’s hold on Italian life

c. 2008 Religion News Service VATICAN CITY _ Pope Benedict XVI frequently decries what he sees as the widespread godlessness of European society. But for a small group of citizens in the pope’s own backyard, at least one European country is still not godless enough. Italy’s Union of Rationalist Atheists and Agnostics (UAAR), the country’s […]

c. 2008 Religion News Service VATICAN CITY _ Pope Benedict XVI frequently decries what he sees as the widespread godlessness of European society. But for a small group of citizens in the pope’s own backyard, at least one European country is still not godless enough. Italy’s Union of Rationalist Atheists and Agnostics (UAAR), the country’s oldest and largest such organization, has worked for two decades to promote the interests of non-believers, and to combat what its members say is the intrusive presence of religion in Italian society and public life. On Saturday (Oct. 25), the group sponsored a nationwide “De-Baptism Day” to encourage nominal Catholics to renounce their formal affiliation with the church. “In a civil country, an organization like ours shouldn’t have to exist,” said the UAAR’s current head, Raffaele Carcano. The 42-year-old bank employee notes the example of neighboring France, where a strict separation of church and state is enshrined in law. In Italy, by contrast, an 80-year-old treaty between the government and the Vatican guarantees Catholic religious education in public schools, and state funding of the church itself. Italian atheists also complain about prevalent social discrimination, including a shortage of dignified settings in which to hold non-religious weddings and funerals _ even the difficulty of renting a hearse without a roof-top cross. The UAAR, which claims approximately 3,000 members, has challenged such practices as the placing of crucifixes in electoral polling places and the donation of tax money to Catholic charities. It also sponsors educational initiatives, including annual “Darwin Day” conferences and cash prizes to college students who write about atheist or secular themes. The organization offers forms that baptized Catholics can use to request removal from the church’s rolls. Thousands have downloaded the form since Italian law recognized the procedure in 1999, Carcano said, though the number of those who have actually placed requests is known only to the church itself. Church officials, while preserving a record of every baptism as a matter of “historical fact,” are required to amend the record to acknowledge when a baptized person no longer considers himself a Catholic. Yet ex-members complain that the church often drags its feet in fulfilling such requests, especially if petitioners are unable to furnish the exact date and location of their christening. (BEGIN FIRST OPTIONAL TRIM) Some have even resorted to subterfuge to expedite the process. “I called the parish and said, `I’m very sick, I don’t know if I was ever baptized.’ No problem,” said Claudio Mori, 67, a retired radio journalist in Rome. (END FIRST OPTIONAL TRIM) Saturday’s event, marked by demonstrations in 22 Italian cities, elicited de-baptism requests from more than 1,000 Italians, the UAAR claims. Carcano and a group of about 15 supporters personally delivered some of the forms to the headquarters of the diocese of Rome. Why should un-believers bother to take such a formal step? The UAAR points to baptism’s “civil effects,” offering as a concrete example a 1958 court ruling whose 50th anniversary De-Baptism Day was chosen to mark. In that case, a Catholic bishop was accused of defaming a married couple by denouncing them as “concubines and sinners” for marrying outside the church. The judge ruled for the bishop on the grounds that the plaintiffs were baptized Catholics and thus the bishop’s “subjects.” UAAR members also argue that the practice of counting all baptized persons as Catholics bolsters the church’s inordinate influence by allowing it to claim 97 percent of Italy’s 57 million people as members, even though almost none were old enough to join of their own volition. Neither the Italian bishops’ conference nor the diocese of Rome responded to requests for comment. But a frequent opponent of the UAAR scoffed at the organization’s arguments, which he characterized as anachronistic. “To think that today a bishop’s faithful are his `subjects’ is simply ridiculous, not only in civil society but even in the church, especially after the (reforms of the) Second Vatican Council,” said Gianfranco Amato, a lawyer who has represented the bishop of Grosseto in litigation against UAAR members. (BEGIN SECOND OPTIONAL TRIM) Amato also dismissed the statistical importance of baptism; a 2006 study, for example, found that only 36.8 percent of Italians described themselves as actively practicing Catholics. According to the lawyer, de-baptism is a “contradiction in terms,” which “proves that UAAR members actually believe in the sacrament.” “A true atheist does not care whether his name is or is not signed in the baptismal register,” Amato said. “He simply ignores it.” (END SECOND OPTIONAL TRIM) Not surprisingly, the de-baptized disagree. But at least one of their number said her repudiation of a status that she did not choose _ and that her parents imposed on her more out of custom than strong belief _ does amount to a sort of indirect tribute. “To subject someone to a sacrament out of mere laziness or habit is perhaps the worst insult to the sacrament,” says Chiara Lalli, 35, who teaches bioethics at the University of Rome La Sapienza. “De-baptism actually becomes a way of taking it more seriously.” KRE/RB END ROCCA Photos of Carcano and other UAAR leaders at the De-Baptism rally are available via https://religionnews.com

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