Author: AFP
Publication: The Time of India
Date: March 31, 2009
URL: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/In-Britain-100000-seek-de-baptism/articleshow/4336932.cms
More than 100,000 Britons have recently downloaded
"certificates of de-baptism" from the internet to renounce their
Christian faith.
The initiative launched by a group called
the National Secular Society (NSS) follows atheist campaigns here and elsewhere,
including a London bus poster which triggered protests by proclaiming 'There's
probably no God.' "We now produce a certificate on parchment and we have
sold 1,500 units at $4.35 a pop," said National Secular Society president
Terry Sanderson, 58.
John Hunt, 58, from London is one of the first
to try to be "de-baptised." The male nurse said he approached the
Church of England to ask it to remove his name. "They said they had sought
legal advice and that I should place an announcement in the London gazette,"
said Hunt. So that's what he did - his notice of renouncement was published
in the Gazette in May 2008 and other Britons have followed suit.
De-baptism organisers say the initiative is
a response to what they see as increasing stridency from churches. Government
figures say 72% of the population list themselves as Christian.
