# Baptists and Godparents

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baptists-and-godparents/825628>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 5, 2018, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baptists-and-godparents/825628 "2018-12-05T19:29:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\
**Post date:** [December 7, 2018, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baptists-and-godparents/825628/21 "2018-12-07T00:05:09Z")

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Just a bit of clarification for the benefit of those who haven’t watched the show in question: The whole premise of the scenario in the show is kind of ridiculous to begin with. The main character wants to compete in the “Miss Magic Jesus” beauty pageant. The Baptist preacher whose church apparently runs this pageant discovers that she’s never been baptized, and insists that she be baptized before entering (not that she needs to be a Christian, just that she needs to be baptized, effectively treating baptism as a magic cleansing ritual). Then he explains that she needs a godfather in order to be baptized.

(It gets even more ridiculous later when the preacher decides she’s possessed by a demon, and calls in his exorcist friend, a Catholic priest who turns out to be a converted Jew …)

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**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\
**Post date:** [December 7, 2018, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baptists-and-godparents/825628/22 "2018-12-07T01:09:20Z")

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> [@senoy](#):
>
> I guess my obviousness doesn’t extend to everyone. We have to define ‘godparent’ one supposes as we could think it means all sorts of things. The OED has a single definition for it “A sponsor at baptism or confirmation; a godfather or godmother.”

🙂 And actually, a Presbyterian /can/ have a sponsor, which is not a godparent.

In the Presbyterian tradition, the whole congregation has the responsibility. They can’t avoid that responsibility, but they can delegate someone to act for them.

Any delegated person has a primary responsibility to the congregation, not to the child.

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