As
a Humanist Minister, I respect the reason, knowledge, and wisdom
required to question and re-think the traditions of your youth. I ask
you to reflect on the moment of your religious “baptism,” whether
it entailed a light sprinkling of water on your infant head, or a
full dunking at the age of eight – remember what it meant to “be
baptized” into your faith tradition. Take a moment to respectfully
acknowledge your parents' and family's beliefs and desires for you.
Culture and tradition are influential, moving aspects of every human
being's existence. They will always affect our perspectives, and how
we will choose to live our lives.
As
you reflect on what it meant to you, and/or to your family, to “be
baptized,” I now ask you to reflect on what it means to you, today,
to be “de-baptized.”
As
a religious tradition once determined that an external force could
put water on you and you would be “saved” or given certain gifts,
I encourage you to consider that, on average, 57% of our bodies'
weight is water. Our bodies require water to survive on a daily
basis, and our lives on this planet we call Earth require water as a
life-giving force of nature. There is nothing super-natural about our
relationship with water.
As
you have grown and evolved, philosophically and physically, since you
were born into and baptized into your religious tradition, you have
now arrived at a point in your life when you, and only you, and no
external power or force, have the ability to determine exactly what
you do and do not believe and to what you will and will not adhere.
Since
you have this reason, knowledge, and wisdom – as well as this
natural water within you – I ask you to spit, here, into the
ground, with _______________ as your witness, as evidence of your
de-baptism.
As
a Humanist Minister, I will not anoint your head with water, nor will
I wash you, or dunk your body under-water. You have all the water
within you that you need, as well as the freedom & ability to
believe as you, and only you, deem worthwhile.
No comments:
Post a Comment