Name consecration

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The name consecration (also name celebration) is a non- religious , secular welcome celebration of a newborn child. With the festival, the child is solemnly accepted into the family and the circle of friends and usually sponsored by him. Other names are naming ceremony, birth festival, birth celebration, civil baptism, non-religious baptism, non-denominational baptism, humanistic baptism and free baptism.

So far there are no fixed alternative rituals to (Christian) baptism , so the names (see above), the motivation, the content and the process of name celebrations are very individual. Weltanschauung communities such as the Humanist Association of Germany or the Freethinker Association of Switzerland , free religious communities or freelance celebratory speakers offer support with the content implementation and organization of name celebrations .

Background and comparison with Christian baptism

According to a survey, many people, including those without a denomination, want a Christian baptism. With the name celebration, a festival similar to baptism can be celebrated that does not require any religious or ecclesiastical reference. Motivation for a name celebration can be that the parents do not want to anticipate the decision about religion or church affiliation for the child, that the parents belong to different or no denominations or that the sponsors do not meet the church requirements for assuming the sponsorship office.

The common features of the name celebration and the baptism are the festive character of the festival, the gathering of family and friends, the expression of joy at the birth, the greeting and acceptance of the child among friends and relatives, the naming of godparents, music and recitations as well the formulation of promises, wishes and hopes for the newborn child.

Various legal and social implications of a name celebration

The name celebration has no legal consequences in Germany. As with (Christian) baptism, naming the godparents at a naming ceremony has no effect under civil law, so that for example the godparenthood does not lead to the assumption of guardianship in the event of the death of the parents. If the parents want to appoint a guardian, a legally recognized last will is required ( § 1776 and § 1777 Paragraph 3 BGB).

Since the child is not baptized, he or she remains religious and does not become a member of a church. An unbaptized child can also take part in Protestant or Catholic religious instruction if the respective religious community has given its consent. In most cases, the authorized representative of the church (religion teacher) agrees to the request to attend religious instruction. In addition, children who have not been baptized are generally allowed to attend denominational kindergartens or day-care centers.

Socialist name consecration in the GDR

In the GDR there were attempts with the socialist naming or consecration of names to replace baptism with a non-religious celebration and to combine it with a commitment to socialism. The events were originally supposed to be held in the factories, but were not in the long run due to the excessive additional effort and the only half-hearted implementation, unlike the youth consecration , and were hardly ever practiced at the end of the GDR.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ From the French "Baptème Civile" (cf. http://bapteme-civil.com Accessed on September 26, 2012)
  2. ↑ urbia: baptism and birth festival . Retrieved September 26, 2012
  3. ↑ "'BABY and Family' in the press portal: Baptism in trend - survey" . Retrieved September 26, 2012
  4. ↑ "FOCUS Magazine No. 13 (1996): Non-denominational, but believing" . Retrieved September 26, 2012
  5. ↑ Principles of the decision of the Federal Constitutional Court BVerfG of February 25, 1987, Az .: 1 BvR 47/84 . Retrieved July 27, 2012
  6. ↑ Cf. EKD: Religious instruction continues to have a high response ( memento of the original from January 27, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. and rpp-catholic: religious education is the greatest interface between church and society . Retrieved September 26, 2012 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ekd.de
  7. ^ EKD: Questions about baptism . Retrieved September 26, 2012