Reply #23: i'm baptised and confirmed

[amazona]

I think from your poll you might not know the difference.

A baptism in many Christian sects is done to an infant to protect her in case she dies before she has a chance to decide for herself. When she is 12 or 13 or so, she studies catechism and is then confirmed after accepting the tenets of the church. The baptism is a pure magical ceremony of sprinkling words and water over a baby who probably is sleeping or crying. While there is a certain amount of cheating with confirmation -- they give you the questions AND the answers so there is no doubt that you will pass -- you have a developed mind and are aware of what is happening.

It seems nutty to your friends that you weren't baptised as a baby because it isn't like you're asking the baby to believe anything. You're splashing holy water and getting a blessing said over the baby, basically just wishing it well in life and the afterlife. Even if you grow up to be atheist, where's the harm? Most parents in the 50s and 60s (at least in the U.S. south) would do it as a precaution. Why close doors for a baby? But we're a superstitious lot down here, I guess. There's a lot more acceptance of open atheists now but when I was a kid...you just wouldn't deprive your kid of the baptism. It Just Wasn't Done.

The conservation movement is a breeding ground of communists
and other subversives. We intend to clean them out,
even if it means rounding up every birdwatcher in the country.
--John Mitchell, US Attorney General 1969-72