Celebrity Conversions: From Faith to Fallout

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNvVpEgdzI8

 

Baptism: It’s Pagan, Guys. Get Over It. • Richard Carrier Blogs

…"The features Christians lifted from the pagan mysteries are: passing from one state to another—life, through death, to a new life, symbolically through the water ritual. The features Christians lifted from Jewish water rituals are: humble simplicity, a joining to the body of Israel, and an atoning function that secures one access to the future resurrection. 

The feature both, Jewish and pagan, already shared, was this feature of cleansing sins in preparation to receive this new state and benefit. Christians used that common nexus to build a hybrid ritual, combining their preferred elements of both, to realize their own form of baptism. And when this began, they brought with it even such particulars as baptism for the dead, demonstrating the link to its pagan cultural past, and added joining "the body of Christ" as an analogy to joining "the body of Israel" in Jewish conversion-initiation water rituals… 

Following pagan precedent, the rite was conceptualized as a symbolic but metaphysically potent death and resurrection. And following precedents in both Judaism and paganism, this was all tied to a cleansing away of past sins. 

Baptism was thus no more unique to Christianity than a resurrected or virgin born savior…"

https://www.richardcarrier.info/archives/30551

H.S. football coach is fired after holding a baptism for players after practice

Weeks before his firing, Ferrell had been criticized by the Freedom From Religion Foundation for inviting a pastor to baptize players on school grounds after a practice on Oct. 23...

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/georgia-high-school-football-coach-held-baptism-players-school-grounds-rcna125570

Pastor Resigns After Incorrectly Performing Thousands of Baptisms - The New York Times

The pastor of a Catholic church in Phoenix changed one word in administering the sacrament, rendering baptisms performed there invalid, the church said...

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/14/us/catholic-priest-baptisms-phoenix.html

The Catholic Church Just Destroyed Itself with Logic

https://youtu.be/oK7IM7m8oYw

Orthodox Church under fire in Romania after baby dies following baptism

...Local media recounted several similar incidents in recent years. Church spokesman Vasile Banescu said priests could pour a little water on the baby's forehead instead of full immersion. But Archbishop Teodosie, leader of the Church's traditionalist wing, said the ritual would not change...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/04/orthodox-church-baptism-under-fire-in-romania-after-babys-death

Vatican causes chaos by invalidating baptism formula | National Catholic Reporter

For centuries, the baptismal formula in the Roman Catholic Church has been: "I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." Most Protestant churches have also used this formula. Toward the end of the 20th century, however, a few baptismal ministers began tinkering with the formula. A few ministers have said "We baptize" to bring out the familial or community dimension of the baptism. For example, a priest might say, "In the name of the father and of the mother, of the godfather and of the godmother, of the grandparents, of the family members, of the friends, in the name of the community we baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." In June the congregation, which deals with doctrinal issues, ruled that a baptism was invalid if the minister said, "We baptize" instead of "I baptize.…"...

https://www.ncronline.org/news/theology/signs-times/vatican-causes-chaos-invalidating-baptism-formula

High school baptisms must cease, FFRF declares | Freethought Today

After FFRF contacted a high school in Tennessee over an on-field baptism of students, several local and national media covered the issue. A concerned area resident reported that on Aug. 7, Chad Diehl, a minister at Bethlehem Baptist Church and “character coach” for the Springfield High School football team, baptized two players on the school’s football field in front of the rest of the team and coaches. ....
https://www.freethoughttoday.com/vol-36-no-08-october-2019/high-school-baptisms-must-cease-ffrf-declares

Want to leave the Catholic Church? Officially, you can’t - The Washington Post

The church doesn't allow people who have been baptized to request to take themselves off the rolls.....
https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2018/10/22/want-leave-catholic-church-officially-you-cant/

Priest slaps baby during baptism - YouTube

Priest unleashed a fierce slap across a baby's cheek shocking everyone in the church. The priest grips the baby's face and shouts at the baby. The baby's father stepped in to wrestle the baby away from him and the priest refused to let go of the baby and grip the baby by his neck....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UintJU4eAHs

Ireland is challenging the Catholic Church to repeal a baptism law - Axios

Ireland is taking on another battle with the Catholic church after the country voted to repeal a long-standing abortion law last week. The New York Times reports that Ireland is seeking to end "a provision that gives preference in most of the country's elementary schools to children who have been baptized." ....
https://www.axios.com/ireland-seeks-to-repeal-school-baptism-law-b249e7ef-2f1f-43ba-a47d-b911cb3ee05f.html

Curb Your Enthusiasm Rant and Ruined Baptism

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHZQlWgve2Q&feature=youtu.be