# Jesus, is this supposed to be a Christening? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 19, 2019, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-is-this-supposed-to-be-a-christening/837283 "2019-07-19T01:49:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2019, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-is-this-supposed-to-be-a-christening/837283/21 "2019-07-19T13:39:12Z")
Yikes! ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2019, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-is-this-supposed-to-be-a-christening/837283/22 "2019-07-19T13:59:31Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > That’s the baptismal ceremony for that particular church/religion, so its members obviously know what the ceremony entails. The fact that they are there and participating indicates to me that don’t have a problem with it. I’d love to speak to someone there and ask them why it has to be such a violent process. I’m going to say, I don’t think so. It’s pretty obvious the rest of the audience, adults and kids alike, is rather horrified at this. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2019, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-is-this-supposed-to-be-a-christening/837283/23 "2019-07-19T14:09:33Z")
The priest is pissed off about something, but holy hell! I’d say that calls for an immediate assignment to funerals only. Before there’s cause for one. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2019, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-is-this-supposed-to-be-a-christening/837283/24 "2019-07-19T14:09:36Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > That’s the baptismal ceremony for that particular church/religion, so its members obviously know what the ceremony entails. The fact that they are there and participating indicates to me that don’t have a problem with it. I’d love to speak to someone there and ask them why it has to be such a violent process. Survival Of The Fittest? ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2019, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-is-this-supposed-to-be-a-christening/837283/25 "2019-07-19T14:14:55Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > The priest is pissed off about something, but holy hell! > > I’d say that calls for an immediate assignment to funerals only. Before there’s cause for one. He used to do funerals, but was reassigned after pushing over coffins. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_McQwark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4da419/32.png) [@Steve\_McQwark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_McQwark)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2019, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-is-this-supposed-to-be-a-christening/837283/26 "2019-07-19T14:49:40Z")
In fairness, we don’t see what happens before the plunging. Maybe the baby was trash-talking about the guy’s mother or something. ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2019, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-is-this-supposed-to-be-a-christening/837283/27 "2019-07-19T14:57:10Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > in a manner reminiscent of a starving man dunking an Oreo into a glass of milk after having just been rescued from a deserted island. It looks to me more like a starving man trying to break open a coconut with a large rock. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2019, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-is-this-supposed-to-be-a-christening/837283/28 "2019-07-19T15:00:12Z")
Well, if that kid comes up with any sort of mental issues, I’m smelling a fat lawsuit in somebody’s future. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2019, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-is-this-supposed-to-be-a-christening/837283/29 "2019-07-19T15:01:00Z")
It’s not enough to just wash the baby sins away, you gotta scare the demons out too or else they just get you dirty again. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2019, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-is-this-supposed-to-be-a-christening/837283/30 "2019-07-19T15:44:09Z")
I noticed this in the Twitter comments: “Just thinking out loud: I’m glad he doesn’t perform circumcisions.” ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stainless_steel_rat/32/5727_2.png) [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stainless_Steel_Rat)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2019, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-is-this-supposed-to-be-a-christening/837283/31 "2019-07-19T16:36:56Z")
Just for info, this one made Snopes: [Is This Video of a Baby Being Violently Dunked in Water Real? | Snopes.com](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/baby-dunking-video/) They rate it as “mixture”. Then there is this version, a little more gentler but the kid gets dunked first head-, then feet-first, three times: [Epiphany marked with baptisms in Georgia - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=69&v=fTTIgIGtopY) ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2019, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-is-this-supposed-to-be-a-christening/837283/32 "2019-07-19T16:43:36Z")
It’s worse than I thought. They all hate babies. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2019, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-is-this-supposed-to-be-a-christening/837283/33 "2019-07-19T20:20:53Z")
He’s moving the baby rapidly up and down while not supporting the baby’s head. The priest in the different video Railer13 cited is supporting the baby’s head and neck very carefully. ---
**Author:** ![Bayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bayaker/32/3454_2.png) [@Bayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2019, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-is-this-supposed-to-be-a-christening/837283/34 "2019-07-23T14:01:44Z")
It looks like an industrial-strength version of this [Romanian Orthodox Christening](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwSrRe6UfcU). I’ve been to a few Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Christenings that look more like [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJfX5xWusmM) or [this(go to 16:10)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfKmL-y_aQ8). ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2019, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-is-this-supposed-to-be-a-christening/837283/35 "2019-07-23T14:50:40Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > There’s a guy holding a baby under its arms, and slamming it rather forcefully a few times into a ceremonial bird bath looking thing. It’s called a “baptismal font”. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2019, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-is-this-supposed-to-be-a-christening/837283/36 "2019-07-23T21:43:46Z")
> [@Bayaker](#): > > It looks like an industrial-strength version of this [Romanian Orthodox Christening](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwSrRe6UfcU). I’ve been to a few Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Christenings that look more like [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJfX5xWusmM) or [this(go to 16:10)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfKmL-y_aQ8). I watched the last two links – yeah, that’s what I would expect a whole-body immersion of an infant to look like. The baby supported, the whole thing done quickly and efficiently, and an attempt to prevent the baby from taking a breath underwater. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2019, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-is-this-supposed-to-be-a-christening/837283/37 "2019-07-23T21:59:10Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > It’s called a “baptismal font”. Potato/Po-tah-to 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2019, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-is-this-supposed-to-be-a-christening/837283/38 "2019-07-23T23:30:42Z")
Baptismal Font? Is it sans serif? ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2019, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-is-this-supposed-to-be-a-christening/837283/39 "2019-07-23T23:41:01Z")
> [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](#): > > Just for info, this one made Snopes: [Is This Video of a Baby Being Violently Dunked in Water Real? | Snopes.com](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/baby-dunking-video/) They rate it as “mixture”. Which to me is a weird label for what they actually say, which is that they cant verify the video, but that infant submersion baptisms are a thing, and that there is a trend to do them quickly in mass baptisms. That’s not a mixture where some aspects are true and others are false. Since they use words for their raitings, not symbols, I don’t see any reason they couldn’t use more: “Unverified video, but real practice.” ---
**Author:** ![sisu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@sisu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sisu)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2019, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-is-this-supposed-to-be-a-christening/837283/40 "2019-07-24T01:03:34Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > Has anyone here seen an Orthodox baptism of an infant and, if so, how similar was it to this scary video? I have been to a few Greek Orthodox Christenings and although they submerge the child under the water it was done with care and finesse. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-is-this-supposed-to-be-a-christening/837283.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-is-this-supposed-to-be-a-christening/837283.md?page=3)