Atheist wins right to have baptism removed as he did not consent as a baby*

An atheist has won the right to have his baptism removed from Church of
England records after claiming he was too young to give his consent to
the ceremony.

By Chris Irvine
Last Updated: 7:33PM BST 09 Apr 2009

Dr John Hunt has won his battle to have his baptism struck from church
records.

John Hunt, a newly qualified nurse, was baptised at the age of five
months at the parish church of St Jude with St Aidin in Thornton Heath,
south London.

As a schoolboy he decided he did not believe in God and stopped going to
Sunday school aged 11.

Now 56 and living in Croydon, he said he wanted parish records amended
to note he did not consent to the baptism in 1953.

He was told that his baptism cannot be deleted because it is a matter of
historical record.

He then secured a "de-baptism" certificate produced by the National
Secular Society (NSS), rejecting "superstitions" or the idea of original
sin.

It reads: "I reject all its creeds and other such superstitions in
particular the perfidious belief that any baby needs to be cleansed of
original sin."

This week the church backed down and said the entry would be "corrected".

A representative of Southwark diocese told him: "I have spoken to the
Archdeacon of Croydon and he has undertaken, in this particular case, to
have it cross-referenced with the baptismal entry and pasted into the
back fly-leaf of the relevant register at St Jude's Church." Dr Hunt, a
former software engineer, said: "I am delighted that on this occasion
the church are going to do what they said they would do."

He added: "It's about time that some of us stood up to be counted. I am
hoping that others will follow my lead.

"It is important that we send a signal to the church and to the
Government that an increasing proportion of the population don't place
any faith in the various churches.

"The fact that we have 26 bishops in the House of Lords is an anachronism."

The NSS said an estimated 100,000 people had downloaded similar
certificates from its website over the past five years, producing mock
official versions and has had to order more parchment to meet demand.

Terry Sanderson, the NSS president, last month said the certificate was
originally a "tongue in cheek" joke but conceded that the procedure was
now being taken serious by a growing number of atheists.

Related Link:

Revealing Testimony: Do You Need To Be Baptized?
http://www3.telus.net/thegoodnews/baptized.htm