I was christened in the United Methodist church when I was an infant. Both of my sons were christened when they were six weeks old, in the same old family church where I and my siblings were christened. In the same christening gown. Ditto for my nieces and nephew.
We no longer attend church, and I’m not particularly religious, but if I had another child I would have him christened also, just for the sake of family tradition.
As a child I didn’t realize that people still performed immersion baptism. Other than in Jesus movies, where people were baptized in the river, all I had ever seen was the head sprinkling. I was pretty amazed the first time I went to a Southern Baptist church and saw that they kept a vat of water behind the choir loft for baptizing people.
In July 1960, when I was nine years old, I was baptised with water in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and sealed as Christ’s own forever, in the First Methodist Church, Yuma, Colo.
I was raised in a Baptist household, but my parents never pushed religion on us kids. It was there if we wanted to participate. I never did and was not baptized as a child.
After going through some emotionally and spiritually troubling times I attended an Episcopal service and it resonated with me. I was baptized and confirmed as an Episcopalian in 2004 at the age of 40.
Catholic here. Baptized as in infant, confirmed at the age of 12. Being raised in a Catholic area, where my parents’ friends and family (and consequently most of my playmates) were Catholic, I never realized there was anything else, until I was about 9. I would normally assume, if I thought about it, that most people are baptized.
Given that among the people I have known, there are everything from Anglicans to Catholics to Seventh-day Adventists to Jews to Muslims to Wiccans (including a high priestess) to an actual Zoroastrian, I’d have to guess that a narrow majority of the people I know are not baptised.
I’m not. My parents, who were Anglican, wanted me to be, but when they chose my would-be godparents, the Church said, “Sorry, they won’t do. They’re Catholic.” So my mom said, “Forget about it, then.” As a result, I am a legal pagan.
Raised baptist, so I assume I wasn’t baptized as an infant, and I know I wasn’t later than that. My mom was only religious on Sunday mornings (occasionally) and when someone died and she never mentioned it, that I can remember.
My kids weren’t (although there was some kind of dedication crap when they were infants to placate their grandparents).
Also never really thought about it, but I guess I would not assume most people are. I don’t think most people really care once they get old enough to make a decision (I also think most people are “christian” out of inertia rather than actual faith, but that’s another thread, and probably not an interesting one), so unless it was done as a baby, probably not.
That is (almost) exactly my experience, except the owner of the company where I work (who I’ve only known a couple of years) is highly religious. I would bet my bottom dollar he’s been baptised, but I don’t care enough to ask him. I’d rather not broach the subject of religion at all with him, and he’s never mentioned it except during my interview.
That’s kind of what I was wondering. You seem (OP) to take it as a given that most people are. But that is really a Western-only (read: Christian) thing to do.
I am E. Indian, raised Hindu, and atheist Hindu now. I am most certainly not baptized. When I think of baptism I confess I think of it as an Old World thing, that people don’t really do anymore. It seems I am wrong by reading this thread.
As for Der Trihs, I would beg to differ. I wouldn’t call those baptisms, anymore than I would use some Hindu word to describe a Christian ceremony and I think it’s a little - well, one-sided to feel that everything should be described through Christian lenses.
I have bathed in the holy water of Ganga. Do I think of that as baptism? Hell no.
The OP should show I do **not ** think most people are baptised, my guy did and that led to this thread.
So, Anaamika, you wouldn’t assume most people (in general) are/were ‘baptised’ in whatever fashion their religion/beliefs allowed for?
I was baptized at 12, when my parents, for whatever reason, decided to baptize my baby sister. I guess I was thrown in because, after all, I’d been going to Sunday School for some time. I was also confirmed, but then I stopped going to church. My sister didn’t even end up going to Sunday School.
To finish answering, I assume that the Catholic guy across the hall was baptized (or christened, I think they call it), and that the right-wing fundie down the hall was, but other than that I have no clue.
I am most certainly not making fun of Hindu practices, but bathing in “the holy water of Ganga” makes me think of nothing else but dunking in bong water.
Um, dude? You know those little bottles of “Holy Water” from the “Holy Land?” They come (generally) from Lake Galilee or from the River Jordan efflux from it. You think those waters are crystal clean? Hint – those are favorite bathing places for myriads of vacationing Israelis all year long… so maybe you should examine your own eyes for a beam or two before looking for motes elsewhere.
I was never baptized. My parents thought it was a choice that I should be allowed to make, once I was able to define my own concept of faith and belief, and that baptism was not a “choice” that they should be allowed to make for me. And due to that, I never have been baptized and most likely never will be.
And no, I don’t assume any sort of “baptized status” upon meeting people. Religious background and level of devotion to faith isn’t something one can easily assume at first contact. I know many people who are baptized and many who aren’t. It’s just not something I think about much.
**Plnnr ** is talking about ‘Ganga’ sounding like the word ‘ganja’, like marijuana, which is often partaken through a water bong. I don’t think they were talking about water quality of the Ganges, AFAICT.
Wait, are you also saying Israelis on holiday are dirty?
I’m an agnostic raised Protestant, and I do kind of assume that most people who don’t obviously come from atheist or non-Western backgrounds are baptized, just because just about everybody I know is, regardless of their current outlook. When I was a kid we’d constantly see people come and have their children baptized even if we never saw them again; I guess in the South it’s just what you do even if you’re an Easter Bunny Christian.
As the daughter of a minister in the Congregational (now UCC) church I was baptized at 3 mos. in a hideous nylon dress. I had my son baptized for the most hypocritcal reasons, which are as follows:
to make sure that my Catholic in-laws knew for sure that I would NOT be raising him Catholic.
2)to make my Catholic in-laws have to come to my dad’s (non-Catholic) church. (I should say they gave me a certain amount of church-related grief during the wedding planning process thus making me want to give them a certain amount of fuck off.)
3)to show the baby off.
4)to have a party.
There is not a subset of non-hypocritical reasons. I am an atheist.
Funny enough, I am not only baptised (mormom) but also ex-communicated – does that make me un-baptised? On a related note – if you become a born-again fundie and then get ex-communicated, are you then considered an abortion? Wait, sorry…back to your OP, my kids are not baptised. I had no choice in my baptism, and found it exceedingly rude to try to drown me so we could “fit in” with my mother’s friends. My children can choose whatever religion (or, if like me, lack thereof) that suits them when they want. Pretty sure that although my husband was brought up in several (very fundamental) xtian sects, he managed to never be baptised in any of them…I should ask sometime.
Hubby and I are 35, FWIW.
