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The word “sin” now makes people think of “sex and cream cakes”, according to one of the architects of Church of England plans that could see the word scrapped from key parts of baptism services.
The Church has been accused of “dumbing down” after trialling a new wording for christenings in which parents and godparents are no longer asked to “repent of their sins” and “reject the devil”.
The new wording was drawn up after a request from a group of clergyman from Liverpool, who wanted the service to be made easier to understand.
The group included the Rev Dr Tim Stratford, who has since become the Archdeacon of Leicester and is also a member of the Church’s 19-strong Liturgical Commission, which drew up the new wording.
The Archdeacon told the Telegraph: “I think there are questions over how the word ‘sin’ is received. There are two ways it crosses people’s mind instantly: one way is, it’s all about sex. The other way is, it’s all about cream cakes and eating less.
“We are talking about something that is much bigger than that. The issue of sin is the way that self-centredness pervades an awful lot of who we are and what we do.”
He said he would not oppose the inclusion of the word ‘sin’ in the service but said: “There is a case for exploring whether we can talk about sin more deeply, without using the word ‘sin’ that trips some people up.” Continue reading
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