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Religion Getting myself un-baptised.

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I've heard it's not possible to undo a baptism - something about God not giving your soul up without a fight.

But still I tracked down some email addresses and sent off my polite renunciation of the Catholic Church and a request for an exit interview.

We'll see how this goes.

Hello,

Please excuse me if I have sent this to any incorrect addresses, I
could not find the email of a specific parishioner support person and
reliable information on leaving the church is not readily available.

I would like to know how I go about officially leaving the Catholic
Church, removing myself from any head-count of Catholic Church
members.

I was born on * and baptised and confirmed without my
informed consent in * in the Parish of *
some time in the late 1970's or early 1980's. My parents names are
* and *.

If you could point me to any forms I can fill out or let me know in
what other format I should submit my renunciation of the Church I
would be most obliged.

For the record I freely and consciously deny the existence of God,
strongly doubt that the Jesus of the New Testament ever existed, do
not hold a belief in the supernatural power of any of the saints,
reject the teachings, dogma and authority of the Roman Catholic church
and any benefits, so-called sacraments, graces and blessings
supposedly bestowed upon me, either in the past or the future. My wife
is of no religion and my two children will not be baptised into the
Church.


Many thanks,

*
 
You can denounce yourself from the Catholic Church. What you are after is actus formalis defectionis ab Ecclesia catholica (a formal act of defection from the Catholic Church). If you do this with a local priest, he can note this on your record of baptism. But unfortunately, you can't reverse it.

Good luck with your search for enlightenment. God Bless.
 
Wouldnt an 'unbaptism' be counter productive?

If you deny the existence of God in the first place, then surely feeling the need to be unbaptised is a moot point at best, and counterproductive at worst.

Slightly akin to renouncing citizenship in an invisible country that you argue no longer exists.

If it doesnt exist, why renounce the citizenship that never did anything for you anyway?

Unless the argument is that God exists, but you dont want anything to do with him anymore.
 

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actus_formalis_defectionis_ab_Ecclesia_catholica

It seems like a lot of effort for no substantive reward. If you don't recognise the legitimacy of the religion then I'm not sure why you recognise the legitimacy of their separation procedures.

On your point regarding removing yourself from a headcount - well, unless you're filling out 'Catholic' on your Census form, then you're not being included anyway. Churches don't do headcounts based on records of baptism.
 
Wouldnt an 'unbaptism' be counter productive?

If you deny the existence of God in the first place, then surely feeling the need to be unbaptised is a moot point at best, and counterproductive at worst.

Slightly akin to renouncing citizenship in an invisible country that you argue no longer exists.

If it doesnt exist, why renounce the citizenship that never did anything for you anyway?

Unless the argument is that God exists, but you dont want anything to do with him anymore.
It should get one off the rolls and no longer in the Catholic Church headcount.
 

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Wouldnt an 'unbaptism' be counter productive?

If you deny the existence of God in the first place, then surely feeling the need to be unbaptised is a moot point at best, and counterproductive at worst.

Slightly akin to renouncing citizenship in an invisible country that you argue no longer exists.

If it doesnt exist, why renounce the citizenship that never did anything for you anyway?

Unless the argument is that God exists, but you dont want anything to do with him anymore.

Exactly my thoughts.. I don't buy the line that it's to get off the rolls, I doubt you need to be un-baptised to do that. I think it would be more along the lines of "militant atheist gets bored and wants to sink some boots in".
 
Exactly my thoughts.. I don't buy the line that it's to get off the rolls, I doubt you need to be un-baptised to do that. I think it would be more along the lines of "militant atheist gets bored and wants to sink some boots in".

The negative response is quite interesting to me.

"Why bother?"
"You're just trying to be difficult!"
"You're a troll!"

It seems hard for people to believe that someone would simply want to be removed from the list of an organisation they do not want to be a member of.

Would you be so upset if I said my parents had me made a life member of the Ku Kux Klan and I wanted out?
 

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It seems hard for people to believe that someone would simply want to be removed from the list of an organisation they do not want to be a member of.

A perfectly reasoned and reasonable response. The question is though: do you really believe this is your sole (soul :)) reason for adopting this attitude? Surely, it would have been just as effective, and would have required no effort on your part, to do or say nothing?

I'm not arguing against the validity of what you're trying to achieve, I just think this reply was a tad disingenuous. Then again, you did say, "It seems hard for people to believe", so, given you're a person, maybe you've (just) covered your arse.
 
It seems hard for people to believe that someone would simply want to be removed from the list of an organisation they do not want to be a member of.
What list? You're not on any list. Churches don't keep a headcount based on number of people baptised. If the 'list' is the roll of people baptised, well, getting yourself severed doesn't erase your record of baptism anyway.

All that it does is mean that the Catholic Church formally recognises your apostasy, which is de facto and self evident anyway, by putting a little footnote on your record. Why you need de jure validation from an organisation you don't attribute with any sort of legitimacy anyway is a little beyond me.

Would you be so upset if I said my parents had me made a life member of the Ku Kux Klan and I wanted out?
You ARE out. Your apostasy is clear, regardless of whether an organisation whose authority you don't recognise has formally annotated their records or not.

Bit of a practical difference with the Klan, where it's not as self-evident that a person isn't associated with them.
 
Do whatever you want to do.

Don't see the point in drawing any attention to it though.

Fair call. However, if there were a rule on BF that drawing attention to something had to have a point to it, there would be very few posts, or threads.

Allow our resident serious man his moment of fun. This thread has the added benefit of addressing a course of action I'd never even considered. When you get to my stage, there are precious few of those left.
 

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Religion Getting myself un-baptised.


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