Posted on 01/31/2012 6:49:05 AM PST by marshmallow
An elderly French man is fighting to make a formal break with the Catholic Church, in a case that could have far-reaching effects.
Rene LeBouvier, 71, has taken the church to court over its refusal to let him nullify his baptism after losing his faith in the religion.
Though he was raised in a community where Catholicism dominated every walk of life, Rene changed his views in the 1970s after spending time with 'free thinkers'.
As he didn't believe in God anymore, the pensioner thought it would be more honest to leave the church and wrote to his diocese and asked to be un-baptised in 2000.
Ten years later, LeBouvier wanted to go further.
Paedophile scandals and the pope preaching against condoms in AIDS-racked Africa, helped strengthen LeBouvier's opposition to the religion.
He called the pope's position on Africa "criminal."
Again, he asked the church to strike him from baptism records, but when the priest told him it wasn't possible, he took the church to court.
French law states that citizens have the right to leave organisations if they wish and, last October, a judge in Normandy ruled in his favour.
However, the diocese has since appealed and the case is pending.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
does that even exist?
...
I’d say he has already nullified it himself through his beliefs and actions. It’s not something the church can do.
I agree. His baptism was probably nullified along time ago(if you are arminian) or was never valid to begin with(if you’re calvanist) :-)
Don’t worry, Rene. At age 71, you will soon find that God has nullified your membership in the Holy Christian Church, the one visible only to God. That is the church membership that counts.
Baptism is permanent. Sin CAN be eliminated...and/or it CAN be MORTAL.
If he doesn’t believe in God why would he need to uncheck this box? Sounds more like he has a vendetta.
A ‘free thinker’ that wants his Baptism nullified...lol. You can’t make this stuff up.
If you want to leave, leave ... but you have no right to erase history.
This is hilarious. The Church can not nullify Baptism. When its done, it’s done. She may ex-communicate. But there is no such thing as nullifying baptism. Moreover, Baptism is not even a Catholic-only doctrine. The Church will accept the baptisms of other denominations, as long as they believe in Jesus Christ as Lord. There’s no way to undo it.
I suppose as a freethinker, he doesn't acknowledge the existence of anything he can't see -- i.e. spiritual matters.
But baptism is not a legal matter that can be undone by the courts, as he seeks to do. It is a spiritual mark, with a permanent effect on the soul. It is indelible, as indelible as priestly ordination.
And expunging the record of it is counterproductive. Suppose at age 75 or 80 he changes his mind -- he cannot be rebaptized because it is indelible and permanent, and then there would be no record of it, so . . . .
All he is doing is trying to tamper with the recordkeeping.
exactly. Doesn't his complaint sort of validate what he's trying to nullify? It's like, "God, I know you dont exist!"
Yeah, he’s probably mad at God because it isn’t a Utopian world. Don’t we all wish we could undo some things but reality is reality and if it happened who but God can take it back? He can renounce it, wish it didn’t happen, call his parents and the church all kinds of names but what’s done is done.
Precisely. He is mad at God.
I once let a girl do my astrology horoscope, but I don't spend my days trying to go back in time 30 years and have it undone.
If he does not want to be listed as a baptized Catholic why should the diocese insist on keeping his name on the records?
This guy is stupid. You can divorce your spouse, but you cannot erase the fact that you “married” officially on a given date. One can leave a church/denomination but the same cannot erase the fact that you were baptized on a given date in the past.
Annullments to a marraige can be granted within a short period of time and thus “undue” a marriage, but even here, one was still married on a given date as a historical fact. You can’t just “erase” the fact that it occured.
The baptism happened. If he doesn’t want to be Christian anymore, fine. But that doesn’t mean the baptism didn’t happen.
It is an historical record. Should also the government be forced to delete a record of birth? Should a hotel be forced to delete names from their register as if the persons never stayed there?
This is Orwellian.
That is true but not at all relevant to what I asked so I’ll say again,
Why should the diocese insist? Even when they lost at court?
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