This comes to mind since I read that Elton John was the “godfather” of John Lennon’s son, Sean.
Anything’s possible, I suppose, but I’d be astonished if John Lennon had his son baptized, so Elton probably ISN’T Sean’s godfather in any traditional, religious sense. Presumably, it’s just an honorific (though meaningless in any Christian sense) title that John Lennon felt like bestowing on a friend.
If I’m wrong, and Elton DID take part in a christening for Sean, by all means, someone set me straight!
But if I’m right, and “godfather” is just a title Lennon felt like giving to a friend on his own, I gather Lennon wasn’t alone. I regularly hear non-religious people referring to other non-Christian friends as their kids’ “godparents.”
So I’m curious… how common is this? Any non-Christian Dopers who’ve named somebody as a “godparent”? What’s your reason for using this term?
AFAIK, it’s actually the same thing. It’s completely optional so that if an aunt or an uncle or friend is close to the child, they could become god-father or god-mother of the child.
Sean Lennon may have been baptised - I don’t know about in America, but in Britain it’s not uncommon for non-religious people to have their kids Christened; they see it as more of a social occasion than a religious one. I still half-feel as though I should have my daughter Christened, even though I’m an atheist (a Humanist ceremony just wouldn’t be the same).
My non-religious friends had a naming ceremony for their daughter. naming ceremony*, and I was appointed as one of the Guardians of the child. When I talk about it for any reason, I just say I’m the Godmother of the child because Guardian leads to confusion (people think she’s coming to live with me or some nonsense like that).
*The Naming Ceremony involves formally bestowing the child’s name and introducing the child to all of the family and friends. It’s a nice ceremony, and is handy if you want an excuse to fish the old family Christening gown out of the cupboard without the need to go to church. It’s something I’d consider for my own children.
My sisters and I were baptized but didn’t have any godparents at the time. However, people apparently used to ask my mother who our godparents were…goodness knows why. She got tired of the question and just retroactively declared two of our closest family friends (a married couple) to be our godparents. I generally refer to them as my godmother and godfather when I mention them to people who don’t know them. They may not be my godparents in the traditional sense, but I think it conveys the role they’ve played in my life more accurately than just saying something like “This was a birthday present from my mother’s best friend.”
I was raised Christian (Protestant), and for the longest time I thought the word “godmother” automatically had the word “fairy” in front of it; I never heard of godparents any other way.
Sorry, I’m Jewish, and thus absolutely not baptized or christened. I have godparents and I am a godmother (of a Jewish kid). I can’t think of a Jew I know who doesn’t have godparents. Whether this is a mark of assimilation or evidence that it’s not just a Christian practice, I don’t know.
Most Protestant religions I know of do not have anything equivalent to “godparents.” I know that Roman Catholics and the various eastern Orthodox churches do.
Mr. MLS and I are both definitely non-religious parents; I’m more of an agnostic, he’s an out-and-out atheist. As a child I attended various Protestant churches and had no use for the godparent concept. Our children were not baptized, christened, whatever.
A side story: When my older daughter was about 5 or 6, she asked me what we had done with all of the money from her christening, and was incensed that she had been “cheated” out of having all the money in the bank that her RC friend had. She was somewhat mollified when I pointed out that her friend had dozens of aunts, uncles & cousins of various sorts, and that it basically boiled down to everybody exchanging the same $100 around the family. She, on the other hand, had only the 2 sets of grandparents, and one aunt, so the most she would have gotten anyway was about $60 since none of the above had very much money to speak of.
Most of my friends are Christian, and all their kids have Godparents, most have multiple sets of them even. I didn’t name any for my son, nor did he have any christening or baptism. So far he hasn’t mentioned feeling the lack.
I grew up Baptist and without godparents but most of the kids I knew didn’t have any either, and those that did never really saw them. Somehow as a kid, I got the idea that Godparents were your designated legal guardians in case of your parents death, not just an honorary thing.
<slight hijack>
At my best girlfriends house recently, we overheard the kids arguing in the next room. The youngest apparently thought that I was their godmother, but the older ones corrected him, listing the actual godparents.
He then loudly proclaimed “If Miss Tonya isn’t my real Godmother, then I don’t want one!”
Awwwwww, yay me!
</slight hijack>
I was baptized by my mom’s best college friend and her husband when I was 7 or so, I believe with my parents’ consent, and they have been considered my “godparents” ever since. At the time, my parents and I did not attend church. My dad was raised Catholic and my mom was raised Protestant - Presbyterian, I think. They’re both Unitarian Universalists now.
We were on vacation in Saugatuck, Michigan at the time. I went along with Bev and Jim, my parents’ friends, to chuch and during mass, they licked their thumbs and rubbed my forehead. I just assumed that I had something on my forehead.
(It didn’t stick, by the way. I’m a secular humanist, if anything, now. I just got into a rather nasty argument with Jim the other night about our lovely new Archbishop. He said my mom and I were “anti-Catholic” and Bev had to break it up because it was making her uncomfortable… good times.)
I believe this was the case with us. I (Catholic) have a godmother only, and there was some suggestion that my brother and I would go live with her and her family if my parents died. My brother was born across the country and I don’t know who his godparents were.
I’ve had friends refer to me as the godmother of their child and they are definitely not religious. Feels a little creepy because I know what I believe a godmother would be responsible for, but I just think of it as informal, like auntie.
Another friend couldn’t understand why I was uncomfortable with his considering being godfather in a religious ceremony, when he is not religious. I guess the parents considering him is even more odd.
