De-Baptism, All the Rage in Pagan Europe

Have you heard about the latest not-so-subtle attack on religion that is apparently gaining adherents throughout Europe and especially in the UK? It seems that a growing number of people are very upset over the fact that they were baptized as infants without their consent. And so, to counter this unwanted and forced entry into the Church, the National Secular Society (in the UK) has initiated a process of "de-baptism" by which a person can renounce his real baptism and all that goes with it. Not only does the person go through a de-baptism ceremony, but he also receives a "De-baptism Certificate" that contains the following verbiage:

"I ________ having been subjected to the Rite of Christian Baptism in infancy (before reaching an age of consent), hereby publicly revoke any implications of that Rite and renounce the Church that carried it out. In the name of human reason, I reject all its Creeds and all other such superstition in particular, the perfidious belief that any baby needs to be cleansed by Baptism of alleged ORIGINAL SIN, and the evil power of supposed demons. I wish to be excluded henceforth from enhanced claims of church membership numbers based on past baptismal statistics used, for example, for the purpose of securing legislative privilege."

As you might expect, this has received a lot of press in the mainstream media. If you'd like to see what the secular media has had to say about de-baptism, check out these articles in Time Magazine and USA Today. I've also included a Sky News video story below:

As I stated above, the process is sponsored and encouraged by the UK's National Secular Society, an organization dedicated to promoting the idea that "supernaturalism is based upon ignorance and [the society] assails it as the historic enemy of progress." According to the society, "The Rite of Debaptism is a secret and powerful ceremony that removes and counters the rites of baptism. This ritual can only be performed by trained and ordained Debaptizors, and is an eternal and irrevocable Rite." I find it interesting that what the Church has for 2,000 years taught is an indelible mark on the soul of the baptized, the society believes it can remove eternally and irrevocably through its odd little rite. You can read all that the Society has to say about de-baptism here and check out their certificate here.

Of course, it's all very sad and just another indication of what Walter Cardinal Kaspar called the "aggressive new atheism" so popular in the UK these days. Unfortunately it's not restricted to the UK and is increasingly common in most Western European nations. These lost and searching souls need and deserve our prayers and our evangelization. Let's pray that the words of the Holy Father will touch some of them during his visit to the UK this week.