Baptising a Child

Sultan85 · Post by **Sultan85** » Sat Feb 23, 2008 2:34 pm

Most people baptise their children at a very young age. By doing this, aren't you deciding what your child should believe in, instead of leaving it to be his or her choice?
When children are so young, their brain is not developed to tackle such hard issues, that we as adults cannot even come to agreement with. When you sell this story to children, they will easily believe in it (which could be a possible explanation to why anyone is religious at all). When doing this, you are by definition, indoctrinating a defenseless child; which I would argue is psychological abuse.

Question: Are Baptising and teaching religious doctrine to children morally wrong? On that grounds that it interferes with his freedom to choose.

McCulloch · Post by **McCulloch** » Sat Feb 23, 2008 11:00 pm

There are no Christian children, Muslim children, Hindu children or even atheist children any more than there are Conservative, Liberal, Marxist or neo-Keynesian children. There are children of Christian, Muslim, Hindu or atheist parents. However, parents will and should be expected to, instill in their children the values that they hold to be true and valuable.

Simon_Peter · Post by **Simon_Peter** » Sat Apr 05, 2008 10:22 am

Hello,

Chillax... its just water.

mineman43 · Post by **mineman43** » Mon Apr 07, 2008 10:14 pm

As a Christian, I have one thing to say if it is morally correct. My answer is, It is ABSOLUTELY WRONG to baptize a young child. Being baptized is supposed to be willfully done, and before you are baptized, you need to know what it means. I do agree with you there. Catholics do that. Not to completely be mean, but what they are doing is wrong. VERY VERY WRONG. I'm a Church of Christ member, and it doesn't matter where you are, or what day it is, or whatever. If you truly believe that you are ready to be baptized, you will be baptized (of course, in water, completely submersed).

Fallibleone · Post by **Fallibleone** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 6:55 am

Protestants do it too. If in fact 'baptism' is synonymous with 'christening'.

mineman43 · Post by **mineman43** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 5:29 pm

True, I'm sorry...but as a member of the Church of Christ, we don't. I'm sorry to the Catholics for saying that.

Antagonist · Post by **Antagonist** » Wed Apr 09, 2008 9:31 am

I think that baptising is not a decision that parents should make for their child. however it doesn't have any effect. I know full-blown atheists that have been baptised as a child and raised as a christian. I was also raised as a christian but not baptised.

I think raising children/school and religion should not go together at all. the child should be able to make it's own choice regarding religion.

jenna · Post by **jenna** » Mon Aug 11, 2008 12:16 am

mineman43 wrote:As a Christian, I have one thing to say if it is morally correct. My answer is, It is ABSOLUTELY WRONG to baptize a young child. Being baptized is supposed to be willfully done, and before you are baptized, you need to know what it means. I do agree with you there. Catholics do that. Not to completely be mean, but what they are doing is wrong. VERY VERY WRONG. I'm a Church of Christ member, and it doesn't matter where you are, or what day it is, or whatever. If you truly believe that you are ready to be baptized, you will be baptized (of course, in water, completely submersed).

I agree. Baptizing a child is meaningless. A child cannot truly repent of their sins, and to baptize them without true repentance is senseless. Also, they will not fully know what is going on, and it may actually frighten them. To be baptized requires a full commitment to God, which you will not get from children.

Goat · Post by **Goat** » Mon Aug 11, 2008 10:02 am

jenna wrote:
mineman43 wrote:As a Christian, I have one thing to say if it is morally correct. My answer is, It is ABSOLUTELY WRONG to baptize a young child. Being baptized is supposed to be willfully done, and before you are baptized, you need to know what it means. I do agree with you there. Catholics do that. Not to completely be mean, but what they are doing is wrong. VERY VERY WRONG. I'm a Church of Christ member, and it doesn't matter where you are, or what day it is, or whatever. If you truly believe that you are ready to be baptized, you will be baptized (of course, in water, completely submersed).
I agree. Baptizing a child is meaningless. A child cannot truly repent of their sins, and to baptize them without true repentance is senseless. Also, they will not fully know what is going on, and it may actually frighten them. To be baptized requires a full commitment to God, which you will not get from children.

Baptism is only a ritual that makes the participants feel warm and fuzzy. The Baptism of a child is not for the child's sake, it is for the parents sake.

Rituals are important to the participants. All else is irrelevant.

Thought Criminal · Post by **Thought Criminal** » Tue Aug 12, 2008 2:22 am

goat wrote: Baptism is only a ritual that makes the participants feel warm and fuzzy. The Baptism of a child is not for the child's sake, it is for the parents sake.

Rituals are important to the participants. All else is irrelevant.

Except that, as part of the ritual, the child is now considered Christian.

TC

Debating Christianity and Religion

Baptising a Child

Baptising a Child

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