Baptism of inactive child?

[_ludwigm]

Inconsequential step.

See
- circumcision
- female genital mutilation
- knocking out a girl's tooth

Picture of the last item: (NSFW)
[#img] http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... _tribe.jpg
Kaitish tribe in Australia, 1912[/img]


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The only form of rite of passage I agree - by coming of age - is the legal drinking age...

[_lostindc]

it would be an interesting experiment if you were to do this:
- tell the bishop your child wants to be baptised and you consent.
- ask right off about scheduling and lock in a date.
- the bishop will set some low bar of "readiness" your child needs to meet in the meantime.
- completely but politely ignore any and all "readiness" requirements, offering well meaning excuses as needed.
- when the date comes, see if they allow the baptism to proceed

i'd be willing to bet "yes", in most wards.

best of luck to you. i've been in a similar situation and it's no fun.

Sh1tty situation for sure. We do plan on not meeting the readiness requirements. This is strictly for the sake of daughter wants to have it done to receive affection from her extended family and to just say she has been baptised.

[_lostindc]

My kid is the kid in question (I am sure this was difficult to guess). Our oldest child somewhat wants to be baptized and the big reason is due to family tradition. My wife's side is heavily LDS and she has watched cousins go through the process and wants to do the same.

We support her decision, but our daughter absolutely hates going to Church. The last time she went was some time early summer.

We have considered many options some of which include:
1. going back to Church to ensure baptism is done and act like we have no problems with the Church and suggest that inactivity was due to work.
2. ask if the baptism is possible even if my daughter does not want to attend Church and have her grandfather do the baptism.
3. join a different Church to get baptism done, such as a Universalist faith (of course there would be an immense family fallout from the inlaws and I believe my daughter is set on an LDS baptism).
4. Hire an actor to pose as the Bishop and have him attend the baptism so the family thinks the whole thing was legit.

No way, an 8-year old is not old enough to sign up for a credit card, let alone a credit card with falsely claimed eternal-salvation currency. Tell her "No" and see if she's still interested when she turns 12.

You KNOW this religion is a man-made bunch of fairy tales. Surely you have shared some of this with your inactive daughter. If you haven't, I'd say it's about time.

I agree on all counts, but she has seen her cousins and friends go through the process of baptism at 8 years of age and has seen the presents, attention, and other trappings following baptism and is excited at the idea. She also wants to please her grandparents. This is a rather complicated issue, but the way she is approaching baptism is as if baptism is some sort of sweet 16 bday party after which when the party ends and then normal life resumes.

Frankly, the whole idea of a kid making an informed decision regarding baptism at the age of 8 is entirely silly.

She knows I subscribe to a metaphysical/universalist approach to existential phenomena (whatever the hell that means).

[_lostindc]

#2 is almost surely possible (as Shades points out). Plus, in my mind, it's the only ethical option.

No way, an 8-year old is not old enough to sign up for a credit card, let alone a credit card with falsely claimed eternal-salvation currency. Tell her "No" and see if she's still interested when she turns 12.

You KNOW this religion is a man-made bunch of fairy tales. Surely you have shared some of this with your inactive daughter. If you haven't, I'd say it's about time.

Since they don't go and the kid hates going, I'd say that message was already received as well as an 8 year old can receive it. 8 year olds simply don't have the cognitive capacity to understand most of the arguments for the truth/falsity of LDS truth claims.

It sounds like she just wants to get baptized because that's the tradition. What's the difference between this and young secular Jewish kids getting bar/batmizvated because that's what Jews do? Sure, the LDS church and the relatives will likely delude themselves into thinking that this is some big deal, but they are already deluded, so what's going to change?

Nothing will change except, as you pointed out, my daughter will go through a rite of pass/family tradition. I think you pinned down her desires with the bar/bat mizvah analogy.

[_Tim the Enchanter]

Can an 8 year old child be baptized if they are considered not active? Meaning, if the family does not go to Church but the child wants to be baptized because of family tradition will Church leadership permit the baptism?

My guess is 'yes' in most every circumstance. I suppose some bishops would be hesitant to allow the baptism if he didn't want a likely inactive person on the rolls (more work for the primary leaders, then YM or YM leaders, then the EQ or RS leaders), but I suspect this would be very rare. On a macro level, if they can get them in at a young age, they will count them for the next 100 years which helps inflate the numbers.

[_lostindc]

Can an 8 year old child be baptized if they are considered not active? Meaning, if the family does not go to Church but the child wants to be baptized because of family tradition will Church leadership permit the baptism?

My guess is 'yes' in most every circumstance. I suppose some bishops would be hesitant to allow the baptism if he didn't want a likely inactive person on the rolls (more work for the primary leaders, then YM or YM leaders, then the EQ or RS leaders), but I suspect this would be very rare. On a macro level, if they can get them in at a young age, they will count them for the next 100 years which helps inflate the numbers.

This is what I figured. My family and the Church are forming a symbiotic relations with benefits for both parties (daughter gets cultural-baptism, church gets another number on the roles)...or maybe I meant to say we are ensuring mutually assured destruction for both parties? Either way, I look forward to getting this process over with. We have not really informed my wife's family about our activity status. You would be shocked to know that my wife's family is ultra conservative, highly anti-intellectual, and yet at the same time Mormons residing within the Mormon curtain. Shocking.

[_bcspace]

Can an 8 year old child be baptized if they are considered not active? Meaning, if the family does not go to Church but the child wants to be baptized because of family tradition will Church leadership permit the baptism?

Yes. Happens all the time. Inactive families often have some residual feeling about getting these important ordinances done. In other words, they are essentially like many Protestants or Catholics; staying in touch with Church just enough to be on God's "nice list" as they suppose.

I, however, am opposed to such. Rather, I would remove from the records the names of many inactive families. But that's just wicked 'ol me suffering from the natural man. God prefers they remain on the records so we will have work to do in recovering them.

[_Natsunekko]

Both of our children were baptized, despite our being inactive. They had to take the missionary discussions first, though. It wasn't a big deal to us, and it made the extended family happy.

[_Sethbag]

I'm with The Dude on this one.

Your daughter hates church and you imply she has no plans on ever being active in it, yet she wants to be baptised? This just proves, beyond the proverbial shadow of a doubt, that she's too young to understand what she's asking for.

Being baptised isn't supposed to be the same kind of thing as getting a puppy for your birthday. If your daughter doesn't understand that, then she's certainly not old enough to be baptised, willingly, for some semblance of its original intent.

[_lostindc]

I'm with The Dude on this one.

Your daughter hates church and you imply she has no plans on ever being active in it, yet she wants to be baptised? This just proves, beyond the proverbial shadow of a doubt, that she's too young to understand what she's asking for.

Being baptised isn't supposed to be the same kind of thing as getting a puppy for your birthday. If your daughter doesn't understand that, then she's certainly not old enough to be baptised, willingly, for some semblance of its original intent.

I entirely disagree. Maybe it is time that baptism is considered just that "getting a puppy for your birthday." Perhaps we take the whole process way too serious. I mean, what one commits to during baptism is entirely speculation, whereas a puppy is a genuine living creature that in the present time carries more responsibilities then some vague commandments and speculative eternal rewards or punishments.