Britons Seek De-Baptism From Religion Following Atheist Trend

Some Britons are up in arms about religion and want to dissociate themselves from God. Right, until the next devastation hits and then they'll run back to Him. Apparently more than 100,000 Britons have recently downloaded "certificates of de-baptism" from the Internet in a bid to renounce their Christian faith. The initiative was launched by the National Secular Society (NSS) and has followed many atheist campaigns around Britain, including a London bus poster which proclaimed that "there is probably no God."

De-baptism organizers rationalize this latest initiative by saying that it is in response to what they see as increasing stridency from churches, with the lastest "dust-up" occurring last week when Pope Benedict XVI stirred global controversy on a trip to AIDS-ravaged Africa by saying condom use could further spread of the disease. So, is the Pope the end-all and be-all of Christianity? So, if he says something controversial that has rocked your faith in God? Totally ridiculous. I don't agree with most of the Pope's views, but he isn't my channel to God, so I don't let him dictate my religious conviction.

De-baptism movements have already sprung up in other countries. In Spain, the high court ruled in favor of a man from Valencia, Manuel Blat, saying that under data protection laws he could have the record of his baptism erased, according to a report in the International Herald Tribune.

Similarly, the Italian Union of Rationalists and Agnostics (UAAR) won a legal battle over the right to file for de-baptism in 2002, according to media reports. The group's website carries a "de-baptism" form to facilitate matters. According to UAAR secretary Raffaele Carcano, more than 60,000 of these forms have been downloaded in the past four years and continue to be downloaded at a rate of about 2,000 per month. Another 1,000 were downloaded in one day when the group held its first national de-baptism day last October 25. Elsewhere, an Argentinian secularist movement is running a "Collective Apostasy" campaign, using the slogan "Not in my name" (No en mi nombre). Source: Breitbart

The fact that people are willing to pay for the parchments to apply for de-baptism is pretty damning. I know that church has not lived up to its ideals in many cases, most notably the Roman Catholic Church, but we are heading for trouble if this movement continues to gain traction. I am reminded of the Israelites and how God punished them in the desert for their disobedience. Another disaster of untold proportions will be a reminder that we are not as great as we think we are. It will be interesting to see if this movement takes traction here in the USA. There are already rumblings from atheists trying to get "In God We Trust" off our money and to get prayers out of schools.