1/20/11
According to The Daily Mail, the Church of England is suggesting the christening service be rewritten to address complaints by “non-churchgoers and non-theologically versed Britons” that it is too complicated and irrelevant. The rewrite will include a section referring to “rejecting the devil and all rebellion against God” and submission to Christ as Lord, saying the language isn’t “earthed” enough. Another section of revision will include adding some explanation of the symbolism of water is baptism and “shorter prayer in more direct but poetic language that allows the Gospel to resonate better with people’s experience of life.” Critics of the rewrite plan say it amounts to a “dumbing down” of the ceremony. The baptism ceremony has been rewritte three times in the last 30 years, but wasn’t rewritten before that for more than 400 years.
