Why Christen your child?

[sair5412]

Hi,

Not sure what I feel about this so I thought I'd get some opinions off others....

I went to a Christening at the weekend of a family who I know don't attend church apart from weddings, funerals, other christenings.

I am the same and don't feel I am particularly religious although I was Christened when I was young.

My question is, should I get my three year old boy Christened if my partner and I are not believers ourselves? Wouldn't that just make us into hypocrits? I couldn't stand up in church and say all those things if I knew I was blatently lying. I feel it is an insult to dedicated religious people.

People just seem shocked when they ask if our son has been Christened and we say no. We feel like we have done something wrong in the eyes of society.

We'd be interested to know others opinions on this.

Thank you.

[Booldawg]

it like you say sair, alot of it is out of your control if you havent meticulously planned your own funeral. I've not been to a funeral yet where a few hymns aren't sung and a vicar hasnt made a few references to the bible - atheists, agnostics or not.

Having said that, people dont mind God being a bit more involved in their funeral as opposed to marriage and christenings as I guess we feel closer to God at the end of our lives as we'd all like to believe in some sort of afterlife.

[anj74]

I have actually been thinking about the funeral thing recently, can you be cremated (which I what I would prefer) or buried without the church being involved, if not then there is a niche in the market!

My children have also never been christened, I have been christened and my husband baptised but as church does not play a part in either of our lives we have never even discussed which faith we would like our children to follow.

I actually feel that I live a more 'christian' life than some people who go to church who I think believe that by doing this and calling themselves christians is enough in itself without actually 'behaving' as a christian.

[Drusilla]

As I mentioned earlier, my daughters are not Christened and we had a non religious ceremony to welcome them into the world and into our family. I will also be having a Humanist (non religious) funeral when I die.

http://www.humanism.org.uk/site/cms/contentviewarticle.asp?article=1176

[Pippa68]

As has already been noted many times in this thread, I feel that christening a child is only needed if you have a strong faith (unlike my sister, who had both her children baptised for a big party & pressies)

To me, it is outdated anyway. Babies were christened mainly because the infant mortality rate was so high ~ therefore an infant could be 'received into God's kingdom' when it died..sometimes shortly after the baptism which was usually performed within days or weeks after birth. In those days a child could not be buried in church grounds unless it had been baptised. Nowadays people seem to be christening their children months or sometimes years after birth, which is ridiculous unless you become a christian, IMO.

I am not christened (my mum says she never got round to it) but a baby she had before me was..she was very premature & died 12 hours after birth so was baptised in hospital. My 4 children are not christened either as I am not a church goer. As for funerals, it wouldn't bother me if I didn't have a church funeral (I would prefer not to!) for a start, I would be dead so unaware of anything..I am not against other people having their beliefs & going for these ceremonies if it is what they truly want, however I believe that nowadays it is just a fund-making scheme for churches now..in many churches you don't have to be a church goer to have your children baptised, neither do you have to be married ~ how times have changed!

[lassie.com]

I am a mother of two children. I was Christened as a baby (which I believe, was the 'norm' then). I have never been to Church religeously or followed 'the faith'. I was always told that children who were not Christened were not recoganised by God. I never had my two children 'Christened' as I felt they were entitled to their own identity when it came to religeon. We are, who we are, no matter what faith we may choose. My children have turned out to be well adjusted adults and when the time comes, it would be up to them to decide. Do not beat yourselves up about something that is not in your hands. That is my opinion anyway.

Best wishes

[yummymummy]

Agree totally with most of the answers on here. My partner's family are Catholic, I don't believe in any religion and he is in the middle. When i told his family that our son wasn't going to get christened (whilst at another christening), they asked how I could let a little baby go to hell! Decided not to answer that, very diplomatic!

I don't see how a baby/small child could have committed any sins that would have to be renounced anyway, and a lot of the parents and godparents I know never go to church so the whole thing seems like a waste of time.

I have already said to my partner and family that if they give me a church funeral, I will come back and haunt them!

[Pippa68]

yummymummy you certainly kept your cool there ~ I wouold have gone ballistic if I was told my baby was going to go to hell! so well done for biting your lip :o)

According to certain religions we are born into sin, therefore we need 'churching' in order to have our places in Heaven. I was brought up Baptist, so it wasn't traditional to christen a baby as you were usually baptised by personal choice when you became an adult. They have dedication ceremonies, which celebrate the birth of a child..but no water is involved as yet ;o)

I beleive the Methodists were the same, but they have actually started infant baptisms ~ maybe as a source of funds for the church? sorry to any religious people out there but I am very jaded!