I wish this were a joke...

A hilarious little piece from Time Magazine:

More than 100,000 former Christians have downloaded "certificates of de-baptism" in a bid to publicly renounce the faith, according to the London-based National Secular Society (NSS).

Terry Sanderson, the society's president, says the group started the online de-baptism initiative five years ago to mock the practice of baptizing infants too young to consent to religious rites. Their web site invites visitors to "Liberate yourself from the Original Mumbo-Jumbo that liberated you from the Original Sin you never had" and allows them to print out a paper certificate that uses quasi-formal language to "reject baptism's creeds and other such superstitions."
...
The campaign has become so popular — with nearly 1,000 certificates downloaded each week — that the NSS has started taking orders for certificates printed on parchment, at $4.50 each; they've sold nearly 2,000 in just three weeks. "Every time the Pope says something outrageous we get another rush on the certificate," Sanderson says, noting that traffic to the site skyrocketed last month following Pope Benedict XVI's comment that condoms could worsen the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa.

Public gaffes like that one may explain the anti-Catholic backlash driving similar movements elsewhere in the world.

I'm sorry, but this is just too much folks. First off, Pope Benedict was right on with his remarks in Africa. But then again, this is Time Magazine we are talking about here.

But on to the more important point here: you can not undue something God has done. Sorry. It's kinda like that whole marriage or ordination thing. It's one of them gift thingys that God bestows upon us called a sacrament. A totally unmerited gift from God. In this case, Baptism, the complete washing away of sin. Once that mark is on your soul buddy, it's yours, for eternity. No matter what you decide to do with it. I seem to remember a quote in the bible about he who is given much, much is expected. I wonder if somewhere deep down inside, even if it is in the unconscious, if some of these people are afraid of what will happen to them when they have to answer for their lives after receiving the sacrament of baptism without living up to its calling...

Even taking the religious aspect out of it, you just can't do this. Think about it logically. Let's say I go to Rome one day. Then I decide years down the line (God forbid) that I didn't want to go to Rome. It's not as if I can take away that event. I still went to Rome, no matter what fancy certificates I print out.

Sorry folks. Once baptized, always baptized...

Let us pray for all of those in search for faith and the Ultimate Truth...

Pax,
Dean

Sancta Benedicte, ora pro nobis.

H/t to the Creative Minority Report.