Last Straw

I spent my early teenage years attending a catholic high school where debate about the more dubious aspects of organised religion was relatively open, so I’ve generally had an attitude of live and let live; as long as people don’t attempt to impose their fairy tales on me I won’t get on their backs about how silly they’re being.

Well, during a recent stay in New Zealand with my family I came under a lot of pressure to attend a Sunday church service. All stops were pulled. “Do it for Mum.” “Do it for me.” Even my three year old niece was drafted in, adorned with requisite adorably innocent face, to push the guilt nail home and drag me from my warm hangover haven of a bed.

I think it was at this point that I decided a passive position on religion was an outmoded strategy. I explained to my confused niece that I disagreed with going to church but that it was okay for her to go without me. So, her first hint that there’s something fishy about going to church. Not bad for a three year old.

She had a birthday recently so I did the only right thing, I gave her a children’s book on evolution: The Tree of Life: The Wonders of Evolution. Not the easiest kind of book to find. It’s the only one I managed to unearth that conveys the wonder and excitement of evolution. I can recommend it, I just wish it was illustrated in colour.

As an agnostic my basic philosophical view with regard to theology is that I do not know how many gods there are, whether there be thousands, one or zero, and I don’t regard it as a particularly important question. My mother and I had agreed not to discuss the subject of religion at one point but, judging from my recent visit home, my heresy appears to be back on the table. So the gloves are off.

I’ve decided that the only reconcilable thing to do in order to convey my seriousness and help break the cycle is revoke my Baptism and Confirmation and encourage my friends and whanau to do the same.

What it means for my godfather status with regard to my niece I’m unsure. Traditionally godparents have been considered informally responsible for ensuring the child’s religious education is carried out and for caring for the child should he or she be orphaned. Although my sister, her husband and I are far more interested in the later the Roman Catholic Church, according to Wikipedia, requires that godparents are Confirmed, so let’s just say there could be technical difficulties.

Now, if I could just work out how to do it. Naturally I’ll keep you posted.

Note: Whanau and friends are encouraged to comment below or forever hold their peace. Let’s have this one out in the open where opinions can be recorded for posterity.

Update, 28th April, 2006: It turns out you can’t actually revoke Baptism or Confirmation. According to Wikipedia such sacraments are said to leave indelible spiritual marks on one’s being. The outcome of this is the subject of my next post. Stay tuned!