Talking About Nailits Why Get Married? How Many Believe In Getting Their Kids Christened?

[Bobbisox1]

I do

[AuntPollyGrey]

No none of mine. Even if I were a Christian I would wait until the child was old enough to make their own decision. I was christened and made to be confirmed at 13 by my evil mother. The thought of dressing in a white gown and confirming my faith, when I had none, was very distressful.

[Bobbisox1]

There was never a ' walking in white' in my bringing up APG, Methodism was King in the Northern coalfields , there was a divide though, a bit of sectarianism in places like Hebburn and Jarrow back then, nothing like NI but it was apparent

[AuntPollyGrey]

Bobbi my OH was brought up Methodist and he said they were always fighting amongst themselves lol!

[Bobbisox1]

Haha, that'll be right APG

[alavahalf]

Having attended more christenings than I care to remember, I am sure that nailit would enjoy a good Christening.

A short service ..
Dunk the bairn..
A few photos outside the church ..
Hotel lounge ..
Meet with all the distant family members you never knew you had..
Drink as much as you can until you fall over..
The wife wants to know who the young lady was that you were chatting to at the bar ..
There is usually a fight ..
Followed by more drink ..

It's almost the same as a family wedding !

[Vagus]

Nope, none of ours are christened.
We didn’t get married in church.
I have four godchildren, the parents of them knew full well how I felt about religion. I was happy to say the necessary in church, for them. To me it was just like reciting a poem or something as I have no belief. And I was never asked if I was christened.

[Caran]

I was christened and confirmed. My only daughter was christened. She is an atheist. Would not have her five children christened.

[Barmaid]

My mother had us all christened (older 2 in chapel, youngest in local church), but only because a) it was expected and b) her mother is quite religious. Since then her views have changed and she has no allegiance with any church. She has also let us all make our own minds up.

Trouble is, you see people denigrating religion then wanting a religious ceremony. I do not believe you can have it both ways.

We married in a registry office. It was a far more meaningful ceremony to us than a church, which would have seemed hypocritical.

[ummmm]

registry office are way nicer than religious ones, Catholic ones anyway. It's about the couple, not God.

[paddywak]

I ws raised in a fairly strict RC family and did the whole lot,sunday school,confirmation,first communion, altar boy.The day I started work was the day I stopped gong to church and apart from weddings christenings and funerals I.ve never been in a church since. I'll be 73 next all being well.

[Barmaid]

An awful lot of this goes back centuries and to the hold the church had over people. It was crucial that babies were baptised and very often this was done privately for those who it would thought would not survive. Of course there was a fee for this. This is why you often find several children from a family being baptised together often of varying ages.

[Barmaid]

Bobbi on the thread I'll post a link to you make the point (validly I think) that most religions are hypocritical.

https://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Society-and-Culture/Religion-and-Spirituality/Question1729845.html

That being the case how do you reconcile that with a christening which is essentially welcoming a child into a hypocritical indoctrinated organisation?

If religion is hypocritical how is a christening within that religion right? Shouldn't we abhor hypocrisy and teach our children not to follow anything with double standards?

[Bobbisox1]

BM, because mine was christened, I was christened I'm not saying it was * better* of worse ,just at that time it was expected a child should be christened in the community I lived in,Methodism like Catholicism had and still has some very sanctimonious people in it, like Paddy says, I've only gone to church since to a wedding/ christening or funeral ,even the latter tends to be at the Crematorium and usually a humanist , or at least the last few have been which maybe says something there ?