De-baptism, know what it is? De-baptism is a pointless and juvenile protest in which secularist vainly attempt to reclaim the shackles of original sin by rejecting their baptism with a piece of paper downloaded of the internet. You know who loves such futile gestures? Time magazine.
Time gushes over this trendy but sophomoric sophistry.
More than 100,000 former Christians have downloaded “certificates of de-baptism” in a bid to publicly renounce the faith, according to the London-based National Secular Society (NSS).
Terry Sanderson, the society’s president, says the group started the online de-baptism initiative five years ago to mock the practice of baptizing infants too young to consent to religious rites. Their web site invites visitors to “Liberate yourself from the Original Mumbo-Jumbo that liberated you from the Original Sin you never had” and allows them to print out a paper certificate that uses quasi-formal language to “reject baptism’s creeds and other such superstitions.”
…
The campaign has become so popular — with nearly 1,000 certificates downloaded each week — that the NSS has started taking orders for certificates printed on parchment, at $4.50 each; they’ve sold nearly 2,000 in just three weeks. “Every time the Pope says something outrageous we get another rush on the certificate,” Sanderson says, noting that traffic to the site skyrocketed last month following Pope Benedict XVI’s comment that condoms could worsen the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa.Public gaffes like that one may explain the anti-Catholic backlash driving similar movements elsewhere in the world.
Leaving aside the fact that the Pope is actually right, how does Time get to decide it was a gaffe? Silly. Moreover, 1,000 downloads a week, what is the big whoop? Oh, I forgot, this is Time. That probably looks like a big subscription number to them. Anyway, Time goes on to quote several more malcontents that are convinced that other peoples belief in Jesus is holding them back from …from something. The article barely makes mention of the fact that God is not bound in any way to respect the de-baptism, even in the face of the such brave downloading of a pdf.
No, you can’t be de-baptized. Once original sin is gone it is gone. No worries though, still plenty more where that came from. I am quite sure that when these brave and trendy folks are standing before the judgment seat, God will forgive them if they repent, whether they have a de-baptism certificate on file or not. However, I am not sure he will be so lenient if they still have a subscription to Time on file. I am quite sure that qualifies as obstinate sin. Best to get a de-subscription certificate as soon as you can.
April 16, 2009 at 2:10 pm
Just another example of the “clear”, “rational” thinking from the new atheism.
And they say we’re the superstitious ones.
April 16, 2009 at 2:41 pm
Funny that they don’t mention how those 100,000 are more than off-set by the number of people who joined the Catholic Church just in the last week.
April 16, 2009 at 3:12 pm
Definitely $5 better spent on a lunar land title.
April 16, 2009 at 3:21 pm
TIME Magazine ranks right up there with The View and Jay Leno for serious intellectual thought and comment. That’s why it’s found next to People Magazine and the National Enquirer at the checkout counters. It’s about time that they started running recipes for CoolWhip and Jello.
April 16, 2009 at 4:11 pm
Don’t the people that order such a certificate realize that by doing so they are acknowledging (rightly so) that Baptisms are a valid (and Sacred) thing?
April 16, 2009 at 6:33 pm
De-baptism?
They can’t even get the word right, it’s “Apostasy.”
April 17, 2009 at 3:59 pm
Once a catholic always a catholic, you may stop going to church and stop receiving the sacraments and say bad things about God, Jesus, Mother Mary the Pope and all the saints. But guess what you are still a Catholic and as such you will be judged at the specific and final judgment.
April 17, 2009 at 5:59 pm
Silly and pointless.
Also, protesting too much, eh? I seriously wonder about the atheists that spend all their time desperately trying to prove that they really don’t believe in God.
April 18, 2009 at 2:40 am
You guys really don’t get that this is a goof?
April 18, 2009 at 3:02 pm
How do you know it’s a goof, Chris?