There seems to be a growing trend among new parents to get their offspring Christened. That’s fine, but is everyone doing it for the right reason? As my (limited) understanding goes, a Christening serves as your child’s first step into Christianity. Let’s check Wikipedia..
‘In Christianity, baptism (from the Greek noun baptisma; itself derived from baptismos, ritual washing)[2] is for the majority the rite of admission(or adoption[3]), almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally[4] and also membership of a particular church tradition. Baptism has been called a sacrament and an ordinance of Jesus Christ.’
So there you have it. I come from a religious family, I was baptised, and went to Church / Sunday School pretty much until I was a teenager. It was what my parents / family wanted, and when I got to an age where I could make an informed choice to go or not, I chose not to, and have only been in a church on a handful of occasions since. I’m not religious, I’m happy people have their religion, and know that it offers comfort to millions across the globe.
We do live in times where church attendance rates are slowly falling and people aren’t as religious as they used to be. So what’s with all the Christenings? It’s a good question; you’d hope that the parents of said children were keen to get their offspring onto the path of Christ. I’d assume the parents would themselves be Christians and visit church on a regular basis. Is this the case? I’m really not sure.
A Christening these days seems to be an excuse for a bit of a knee’s up, a gathering, and probably they’ll be some sort of gift list. It’s fine to celebrate the birth of your child, get people together, and maybe get a few cheeky presents, but does it have to be done under the guise of a religious act?
What’s the point in wasting your time, and indeed the church’s time partaking in a ceremony that ultimately to you means nothing? If you’ve got no intention in going to church after the Christening why not hold a naming ceremony instead? You get, the knees up, the gathering, and probably gifts, but without the need to pretend you’re religious for a day.
Found your blog through @DannyUK on Twitter, and I have to say, I completely agree with you. The other day I was talking to someone who said she was going to have her child Christenend, so I asked her what Church she belongs to and she said she's trying to find on that will have her preferred date free. Ummm..??I have the same problem with Church weddings if the couple isn't religious. Sure, it looks nice in the wedding pics, but why would you sit through a church ceremony if you and your family never go there and don't even consider yourself religious?I guess it is all about the party, dressing up, and the presents. So sad…
Oh, and I just wanted to add, I'm not religious myself. I did get Christenend, because my granddad was Polish and highly religious and it was just something my parents thought was a good idea.
Cheers Eveline! 🙂 Yep.. you're exactly right! 🙂
hello! I fully agree. Lots of people I know held christenings but it think these days it is more for the tradition and the party/celebration aspect. Despite being christened myself, as something bordering on atheist / agnostic, we held naming days for the girls. No ceremony, just lots of friends and family, a big cake and lots of booze… and a good excuse for presents. Before the girls were born we did consider a christening because I know that if you want to marry into a strongly christian family, a christening is handy if you have no other religious background (my sister knows from experience) but then we decided that theoretically our daughters could marry into ANY religion so we would have to offer them the required ceremonies for every religion on the planet in order to cover our backs.
You're preaching to the choir with me on this one (haha!), it was David's choice to get Oliver christened and I just went along with it… Despite the fact that I only remember him setting foot in a church once or twice in the 5 years I've known him haha! If I'd had my way, we wouldn't have bothered and just had a party instead. X
I completely agree with Eveline here. I find christenings, and indeed, heavily religious weddings, rather hypocritical if the couple are not at all religious. Fair play if you're Christian and are talking it all seriously, but otherwise, why not just have a party? I've been to christenings where gay and atheist friends swore to 'renounce the Devil' and 'teach the child in the ways of the Lord' and thought what an absolute farce the whole thing was. I was never christened because my parents thought that if I wanted to join a religion, then that would be a choice for me to make for myself when I was old enough – a perfectly sensible attitude in my (totally unbiased) eyes.