U.S. Atheists Reportedly Using Hair Dryers to 'De-Baptize'
Published July 17, 2010 | NewsCore
According to Nightline, the leader wore a monk's robe and said a few mock-Latin phrases before inviting participants to "come forward now and receive the spirit of hot air that taketh away the stigma and taketh away the remnants of the stain of baptismal water."
Then he “blasted his fellow non-believers with the hair dryer to symbolically dry up the holy water sprinkled on their heads in days past. The styling tool was emblazoned with a label reading "Reason and Truth."
The leader told the Nightline that he believes parents are wrong to baptize their children before they are able to make their own choices, and slammed some religious education as "child abuse." He said the blast of hot air was a way for adults to undo what their parents had done.
A 24-year-old said, "I was baptized Catholic. I don't remember any of it at all," said "According to my mother, I screamed like a banshee ... so you can see that even as a young child I didn't want to be baptized. It's not fair. I was born atheist, and they were forcing me to become Catholic."
Ironically, the leaders own son became a fundamentalist Christian minister after having "a personal revelation in Jesus Christ."
"One wonders where they went wrong," he chuckled to Nightline.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/07/17/atheists-reportedly-using-hair-dryers-baptize/?test=latestnews
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Wow. That brings up some interesting questions!
- Does baptizing a child in the Catholic church force them to be Catholic as adults?
- I gave birth to some kids in Montana: Did I abusivley force them to be Montanans?
- I gave most of the kids dance lessons; Did I force the girls to be Ballerinas? What about the boys?
- Should there be a limit to what a parent can introduce to a child or educate a child in, in case they won't like it when they grow up?
- Or is it okay for a parent to offer academic and creative opportunities, just so long as nothing spiritual is involved?
- What about the child that might say later...'Mom, now that I am an adult, you are telling me that you knew about 'Jesus Christ'...and that you experienced all kinds of answers to prayer from the Holy Spirit during the time I was growing up...but you never told me about it? You watched me struggle through my teen years, yet never once showed Me how to pray? Why?'
Hopefully the participants didn't pay their snake-oil leader anything for the "De-baptism." After all, going through a ritual ”de-baptizing” and making the kinds of statements these people made… are they even truly atheists?
1) "He said the blast of hot air was a way for adults to undo what their parents had done."
- Excuse me, but what did the parents do? If there is no God, how was their Baptism any different from washing their child’s hair? What is he "undoing?" Wouldn’t one have to believe in something Spiritual in order to "undo" what was done?
2) "I was born atheist, and they were forcing me to become Catholic."
- Are some people born atheist, and others not? Why? How does one know if they were born atheist?
Or....is everyone born with an innate understanding that God exists? ...Or....
- If he really WAS born atheist…AND from the time of conception never had any kind of spiritual connection, how did he have a ‘sense’ that he didn’t want to have the baptism done?
3) The 24-yr-old, still wet behind the ears, said, "According to my mother, I screamed like a banshee ... so you can see that even as a young child I didn't want to be baptized."
a) - As a very young child, did he know he was getting 'baptized’ and that it carried a religious connotation? If he was too young to ‘know’, how did he 'sense' that this was something spiritual that he didn't want done?
b) - Ok, if it wasn't a spiritual sense…maybe he just didn’t like getting wet. My 4-yr-old grandson still screams like a banshee when his hair is washed. Does the fact he doesn't want it washed mean he has a right to not have it done? Is his mother abusing him by forcing him to have clean hair?
c) OR – did he have a spiritual sense, but didn’t want to accept the Spirit of God as his authority. Instead, what he is saying is that even as a baby, he wanted to choose another spiritual leadership. In which case, he’s still not an atheist, because even satan believes in God.
Methinks they protest too much. Obviously, the very fact that they are doing this “ritual” and making the statements they made testifies to the fact that they do believe in the supernatural.
Follow up Questions…
.
a) When is someone old enough to honestly believe in God? Is there a set age, or does it depend on the person?
b) What do we believe, then, about children that die in infancy?
2 comments:
Obviously, the very fact that they are doing this “ritual” and making the statements they made testifies to the fact that they do believe in the supernatural.
Has anyone ever explained what symbolism is to you? It isn't a serious ceremony, it is a symbolic mocking of religion and the insane rituals they partake in. It's not like anyone actually thinks that they are still wet from their baptism, or that the baptism meant anything. If anyone feels it is anything more, it is because of the psychological release.
a) When is someone old enough to honestly believe in God? Is there a set age, or does it depend on the person?
There is no set age, and as far as religion is concerned, I don't speak to my son about it one way or the other. I do teach him to think critically about things.
For example, I teach him that there are people that will try to tell him things that may feel good to him, but in order to know whether something is true or not, feelings are not a good enough benchmark.
Also, when you hear something that feels good to you, you need to be extremely wary of how you come to the conclusions you do at that point, since we can feel good about all sorts of things that are actually bad, but that feeling will make us ignore our intellect and follow bad ideas.
b) What do we believe, then, about children that die in infancy?
I assume that question is for believers. As for atheists, the child is dead. There is no coming back. There is no meeting them in an afterlife. There is nothing left of them but a body that will decay and turn to dust.
I actually find the finality of death to be more satisfying in terms of grieving, now that I don't believe I will see people again. It removes the question of whether or not I will see them again, and leaves me with just pure reality. It is the hope that keeps grief going. When you have no hope to ever see the person again, grief is short lived.
I understand that this is how you view death, but it is not a fact that everyone reacts to death as you do.
I have experienced two deeply emotional deaths in my life. The first was my mother, the second was my husband. Both died of cancer.
I can assure you that the death I experienced without the hope and comfort of Jesus Christ was much more difficult than the death I experienced while being carried in His arms. In fact - the home health nurse that came the evening my husband died, and who knew very little about our family, reported to a nursing class later that week that she had felt an overwhelming love in our home - unlike anything she had experienced in other homes during a passing. This wasn't because she saw us being 'Loving' (although we were) ..she described it to the class as being a "feeling" permeating the home.
Further, that entire week felt as though one was being carried on a cloud. Again, I say that knowing what the week of my mother's death had felt like - without the Comforter.
So although I do understand that these are your feelings and beliefs, I caution you to be careful not to assume that yours is a universal experience.
Grief, in my experience, is much shorter knowing that we will be together again. I look forward with confidence to seeing my loved ones again.
In answer to your question re: symbolism; Yes. I know what symbolism is.
Your points concerning "emotion," however, are absolutely correct. There is a danger of being wrapped up in emotion and religion and mistaking that for the Holy Spirit.
There is a difference between "religion" and a relationship with God. There is also a difference between an emotional experience and being filled with and walking in the Holy Spirit. You are also correct that it is very important for our children to understand that.
Bless you -
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