Have your children been christened

Wow, in Surrey it is hard to find good public schools that do not have baptism and holy communion as a priority requirement. Even when i was a kid i remember people in my class getting baptised and confirmed after their application was pending due to high numbers and then being accepted when it was reported that they had become catholic.

A few people in the thread have mentioned as such.
 
boxman2000 said:
It is a Roman Catholic teaching that having child Christened (with water poured over childs head) it guarantees a child will go to heaven (not found in bible BTW).
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I understand that Roman Catholics (I'm not one) do believe that baptism effecting salvation is biblical. They base this on 1 Peter 3: 21. and John 3:5. It's not quite as simple as 'baptism guarantees a child will go to heaven' though but they do maintain that "baptism is necessary for salvation".

Catechism of the Cathlic church on Baptism here: http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p2s2c1a1.htm You can read what they officially believe there and what they regard as the scriptural references to back it up.
 
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Avenged7Fold said:
Wow, in Surrey it is hard to find good public schools that do not have baptism and holy communion as a priority requirement. Even when i was a kid i remember people in my class getting baptised and confirmed after their application was pending due to high numbers and then being accepted when it was reported that they had become catholic.

A few people in the thread have mentioned as such.
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Yeah, I've not heard of such around here (Gloucestershire). We do have Catholic schools, but we also have state Grammars - so those are the ones parents target. Don't know whether the Catholic ones have extra requirements.
 
cheesyboy said:
Yeah, I've not heard of such around here (Gloucestershire). We do have Catholic schools, but we also have state Grammars - so those are the ones parents target. Don't know whether the Catholic ones have extra requirements.
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Depends on who runs them but they usually have priority list and due to their standards often being above others, they are very popular with parents. So much so that unless you are baptised, there is little chance of getting into the better ones.

It is not discrimination but rather the requirements are more because they feel Christians are better suited to Christian style schools (not that there is a big difference anymore) and so it is more appropriate to choose students that will react more positively to the teaching.
 
The excellent C of E we got our son into has various ways of prioritising how kids get places, or at least did as I understand they might have relaxed this in the last year or so.

It was kid christened, something like at least 20 church visits by the parents (my missus took this task as I said no way!) which the vicar signed on the application form.

After all that I was very concerned they would focus a lot on religion but after speaking to other parents my mind was put at rest and as I mentioned before I went to a C of E myself. A few years later and the progress our eldest has made at the school has been great so it as really worth the effort, and he never talks about God or anything like that. He's more obsessed with Lego and Minecraft!
 
Both of ours have been baptised Catholic. The wife is Catholic by baptism only, I'm meh religion however the best infants and junior school near us is Catholic and they prioritise admissions by Catholic baptism.

The kids are happy, the school is great, the education is fantastic, the care is brilliant and I wouldn't want our kids to go anywhere else.

If that means I tread on my meh religion principles then strike me down with a plague of frogs and call me Judy.
 
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Seems like it is the more densely populated areas. Makes sense since education facilities would be under more pressure and though not necessarily overcrowded, every parent wants their kid to go to the best school, so no surprise there is priority list and a queue for some of them.

I personally would not let my religious beliefs or prejudice against religion effect whether a child gets to have a good education. A good education does not include religion being forced on anyone but often includes catholic/CoE schools in the UK. I dont think going to a catholic school makes children more likely to be religious when they grow up. Most grow out of it, many even come to despise it because of their experience at the odd heavy handed Christian school (proof is in this thread!). Out of the 200+ people in my school year, i can only recall maybe a handful that were religious by the end of secondary school.
 
If a school has a requirement for the child to be baptised how do they check on this? Do you get a certificate or something? Or is there a central christening database they can check?
 
Ekim said:
If a school has a requirement for the child to be baptised how do they check on this? Do you get a certificate or something? Or is there a central christening database they can check?
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Churches generally issue certificates. Not always though. I was baptised as an adult in an independent church and they didn't give me one.

CofE parish churches keep various registers, including dates of baptisms so you can go to them retrospectively if the record gets lost.
 
I'm not Christened, and neither are my three sons.

If they choose to when they are old enough to understand, I'll support them, and back them, but it's not something I personally have any interest or belief in.
 
Ekim said:
If a school has a requirement for the child to be baptised how do they check on this? Do you get a certificate or something? Or is there a central christening database they can check?
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Yes there's a certificate and the school ask the church if you're a regular which means you have to go on Sundays for a bit.

Other choice I have here is the school for scientology. Level 17 zeta theaton
 
Tosno said:
Yes.

It's heartwarming to see that many atheists here are passive to their wives or business partners and let their children be Christened.
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You mean bending over to the wishes of someone religious? ;)

I was christened, along with my siblings. I don't have children but if I did I wouldn't christen them.

Edit: but I wouldn't stop them being so if my other half wanted it. She is technically Catholic, but hasn't been to church in several years.
 
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Bizarrely, yes they have. It was important to my wife, so I allowed it. She's not religious but I guess likes the tradition. I don't think she'd do it now. Women go a bit mental when you have kids but then get back to normal.

My 7 year old thinks religion is very amusing. He seems genuinely interested in how people can believe some of the things they do.
 
So by the looks of it everyone is calling religion a fairy story yet they do great schools.

Can't make it up.
 
Gilly said:
This is very strange. What does a christening bring you? How is not being christened self detrimental? What are the opportunities missed?
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My nephew is now 15 but when he was starting Primary School his atheist parents wanted him to go to the best school possible which was most definitely Roman Catholic.
He went through a ritual and he heavily gained from it but funny thing was around the age of 10, he told me that God didn't exist and it was all a story (but don't tell Nan).
 
LeeUK said:
So by the looks of it everyone is calling religion a fairy story yet they do great schools.

Can't make it up.
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No. I went to a Christian primary school and didn't learn about science until I was 11 and at senior school. It was more important to learn about Noel and his ark. Quite why Mr Edmonds had an ark I can't remember now as I wiped it from my memory as best I could.
 
howiepoohs said:
No. I went to a Christian primary school and didn't learn about science until I was 11 and at senior school. It was more important to learn about Noel and his ark. Quite why Mr Edmonds had an ark I can't remember now as I wiped it from my memory as best I could.
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Jesus was a sort of Jim'll Fixit of his time with all the turning water into wine and so on. Obviously minus the predator aspect.
 
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