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The Church of England is accused of “dumbing down” the sacrament of baptism as it introduces new wording to the service.
The Church is introducing a christening ceremony that removes the requirement on parents and godparents to “repent sins” and “reject the devil”.
Critics claimed the new wording, designed as an alternative to the current liturgy, “watered down” the concepts of sin and repentance.
The text, backed by the Most Rev Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, is already being used in 1,000 parishes as part of a trial lasting until Easter, the Mail on Sunday reported.
In the current version, in use since 1998, vicars ask parents and godparents if they “reject the devil and all rebellion against God” and if they “repent of the sins that separate us from God and neighbour”.
However, the new text asks them instead to “reject evil, and all its many forms, and all its empty promises”, with no explicit mention of the devil or sin. Continue reading
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