Atheist group sells certificates of debaptism

London, England, Apr 3, 2009 / 14:28 pm

The National Secular Society in London, England, is offering a debaptism certificate that allows atheists to "liberate yourself from the Original Mumbo-Jumbo that liberated you from the Original Sin you never had!"

The National Secular Society (NSS), an atheist humanist organization established in 1866, reports on their website that the "Certificate of Debaptism" has been downloaded over 100,000 times and is available to buy online. The certificate, which is printed on "quality parchment paper," demonstrates a trend, according to NSS President Terry Sanderson. "The concept of de-baptism indicates that people are not just indifferent to religion-which has been the traditional British approach-but are actually becoming hostile to it."

The certificate declares:

I ________ having been subjected to the Rite of Christian Baptism in infancy (before reaching an age of consent), hereby publicly revoke any implications of that Rite and renounce the Church that carried it out. In the name of human reason, I reject all its Creeds and all other such superstition in particular, the perfidious belief that any baby needs to be cleansed by Baptism of alleged ORIGINAL SIN, and the evil power of supposed demons. I wish to be excluded henceforth from enhanced claims of church membership numbers based on past baptismal statistics used, for example, for the purpose of securing legislative privilege.

The NSS site explains that the proceeds from the certificate, which sells for roughly $4.50, goes to support campaign activities including "secularization of Britain’s education system" the elimination of "abstinence campaigns," and their primary long term goal of "disestablishment of the Church of England."

According to Tearfund, the Church of England has been in a state of crises for many years. England, which has over 60 million citizens, counts 25 million as part of their official Church, but recent statistics have shown that only slightly more than 1.1 million attend religious services on a regular basis.