...Man de-baptises himselfA man has asked to be 'de-baptised', saying that he was too young to decide his religion at the age of five months.
John Hunt, 56, says that he wants his 1953 baptism at the St Jude and St Aidan parish church in the Southwark diocese, south London, cancelled because he was not consulted and does not believe in God.
He decided to have his baptism revoked after reading about a gay man in Spain, Mañuel Blat, who won a court ruling under Spanish data protection legislation that he could have the record of his baptism stricken from the baptismal register.
Mr Hunt, a member of OutRage!, has obtained a de-baptism certificate from the National Secular Society, which reads: “I, John Geoffrey Hunt, having been subjected to the rite of Christian baptism in infancy hereby publicly revoke any implications of that rite.
“I reject all its creeds and other such superstitions in particular the perfidious belief that any baby needs to be cleansed of original sin.”
He paid £60 to post it in the London Gazette and the London diocese has agreed to amend his baptism notes with the notice.
However, he has been told that he cannot have his baptism revoked as it is a "historical record".
The Bishop of Croydon, the Rt Rev Nick Baines, told the Daily Telegraph: "Whether we agree whether it should have happened or not is a different matter.
"But it's a bit like trying to expunge Trotsky from the photos. You can't remove from the record something that actually happened."
http://www.pinknews.uk.co/news/articles/2005-11673.htmlOthers are being "de-baptized" as well:
Following atheist trend, Britons seek 'de-baptism'Do you disagree with your parents over religion?
In Britain, some people clearly do: more than 100,000 Britons have recently downloaded "certificates of de-baptism" from the Internet to renounce their Christian faith.
The initiative launched by a group called the National Secular Society (NSS) follows atheist campaigns here and elsewhere, including a London bus poster which triggered protests by proclaiming, "There's probably no God."
"We now produce a certificate on parchment and we have sold 1,500 units at three pounds (4.35 dollars, 3.20 euros) a pop," said NSS president Terry Sanderson, 58.
John Hunt, a 58-year-old from London and one of the first to try to be "de-baptised," held that he was too young to make any decision when he was christened at five months old.
The male nurse said he approached the Church of England to ask it to remove his name.
"They said they had sought legal advice and that I should place an announcement in the London Gazette," said Hunt, referring to one of the official journals of record of the British government.
So that's what he did -- his notice of renouncement was published in the Gazette in May 2008 and other Britons have followed suit.
Michael Evans, 66, branded baptising children as "a form of child abuse" -- and said that when he complained to the church where he was christened he was told to contact the European Court of Human Rights.
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