spindles

I think you should cross these bridges when they come.

A bit of background:
I was raised a catholic but am now an agnostic. My wife is a practicing Anglican. We are a bit different in that she knew my religious persuasion before we married.

She takes our boys to church, but I rarely attend - when I do, I don't take part in any of the service (except the singing - I don't see any harm in me singing, and I'm yet to be struck by lightning ). We haven't had the boys christened, because I don't really want it, but if my wife was really set on the idea I (again) don't see any real harm (she sees that my taking part in such a ceremony would be hypocritical, but I'm willing to be a hypocrite if she really pushed it). The protestant religions tend to be a bit more open in this way in that we could have a "naming" ceremony without a formal christening, if we want to, but there is no pressure from anyone in the church family to do anything.

We have been fairly open that I don't believe in god (it is well known to people in the congregation) and there certainly hasn't been any repercussions for me (apart from a few well meaning attempts at conversion).

Anyway - you need to decide whether the ritual you would have to take part in is something you can live with doing. In essence christening is a ritual to "add" the child to god's family - this in itself shouldn't be too abhorrent to you and as time passes you might feel less worried about it. Also, sometimes it is worth doing something you don't want to do to keep your significant other happy. If you are going to raise your children as Christians, then the small ritual shouldn't be too concerning. You could think of it as bending your principles rather than breaking them completely.

However, if you look at other churches, you might end up with you and your wife practicing elsewhere and this whole question becomes moot, doesn't it?

edit: the poll seems pretty conclusive, doesn't it?

__________________
who hid my keyboard's PANIC button?