On the question of baptism...?

Condensed from a debate on an online forum...
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While religion and its accompanying rituals may be a comfort to some, it is important to take a step back and remember that the things we believe today are often little more than a program uploaded into our awareness through our culture, our parents, our peers, our history, and our society.  In the big picture, to believe that the act of immersing someone in water is going to have an effect on their immortal soul is no different than believing a common rock may become a diamond if one just wishes for it hard enough, or that the moon is made of green cheese because that is what their great-grandmother thought.  Believe what you will, but know that your belief will not affect the reality of what-is. 

As a little girl, I was baptized at the age of 7.  The whole shebang.  The whole big ritual in the tradition of the Southern Baptist Church.  For those unfamiliar with the ceremony, it goes something like this: The preacher stands in the pulpit for an hour on Sunday morning, shouting hellfire and brimstone.  Yes, literally.  No exaggeration.  Sometimes he even speaks in tongues.  On a really good day, he faints. At the end of the performance, the organist begins to play and sinful parishoners are encouraged to walk down the long red aisle and "accept Jesus into your heart and be baptized in his name."  We are told our sins will be washed away and we will be born again and gifted with eternal life in the kingdom of heaven, forever and ever, amen.

What does that really mean?  On the one hand, we have parents struggling with whether or not to let their kids believe in Santa Claus, with psychologists citing the potential anxiety the child may suffer when s/he discovers the truth.  And on the other hand, we have those same parents uploading their children with a fantasmagorical religious mythos that offers immortality, forgiveness from on high, and a mansion in the sky, yet never stopping to consider the anguish the child will suffer when s/he comes to realize that fairy tales are fairy tales, whether presented under the guise of good, clean cultural fun, or under the heavy cloak of religion.  The truth is, that while some may believe absolutely in their gods and devils, there is no more proof for either than there is proof for Santa Claus - and so to program children with such belief systems may be as detrimental as any lie told with intent.

To those inside an existing belief system (such as Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, or any other organized religion), the belief system itself will most often blind the believers to any other interpretation, leading to the old adage, perception is reality.  My mother believed whole-heartedly that the right thing to do was to have her 7-year-old daughter baptized in the name of Jesus, and yet even at the time it was all happening, I kept looking around, wondering when the guys from Candid Camera were going to jump out and say, "Just kidding, kid!  No one REALLY believes that dunking you in that cold water on an otherwise insignificant Sunday morning is going to get you a front row seat in heaven!" 

What was amazing to me then - and still to this day - was the fact that those who were already enmeshed in the belief system clearly could not see beyond it - but far more detrimental was the realization that they seemed to NEED others to believe as they believed. To NOT share the belief system, to DECLINE baptism, was blasphemy - the only unpardonable sin in the eyes of the Baptist faith. Bottom line:  believe as WE believe, or else. And so history is cluttered with religious wars, the violence of the Crusades, and the burning of the witches - just to name a few of the atrocities that inevitably result when religion and common sense collide.

In the church I attended, there was a 1-week interval from the time one walked down the aisle until one was actually baptized.  The thing I remember most from that week was seriously, deeply wondering what was wrong with the adults.  Did they really BELIEVE this stuff? Could they possibly think that a man born of a virgin who was impregnated by a holy ghost could somehow have the power to save another's soul?  And even if it were all true, how did this peculiar ritual of immersing someone in water play into the grand equation of religious salvation?

It didn't make sense.

It still doesn't.

Even IF God exists, I cannot imagine that s/he would grant or deny admittance to heaven based on whether one had been subjected to some ritual which is, ultimately, only a symbolic rite of passage rooted in a single belief system.  Baptism is a ritual created by Man - nothing more, nothing less.

So is it necessary to be baptized in the name of Jesus?  No more necessary than it would be to be slathered in vegetable oil in the name of Buddha, or smeared with mud in the name of Raxxmu of Mars.  Rituals are the byproducts of belief systems - and belief systems are the byproducts of fear.  They may hold great power & significance for those who are part of that system, but for anyone outside of it, the ritual is little more than a peculiarity - and may often be barbaric and frightening.  To a Christian, for example, it is commonplace to hear the words, "Eat my body, drink my blood, and you will never die," yet to someone not indoctrinated into that faith, those same words may be interpreted as symbolic cannibalism and vampirism, altogether horrific. So, it's important to understand that the rituals of one religion will have no significance to someone of another religion, or someone with no religious belief at all.

For as long as man lives in fear of death, he will never know life.

"The destruction of faith is the beginning of evolution."  (Quantum Shaman)

 

       
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