DMB

I think one of the problems about this is that confirmation goes back a long way to a time when people didn't have the modern view of childhood and adulthood, so that you were considered a responsible member of society much earlier than we do now (you could be imprisoned or even hanged at an early age). So it may not be the deliberate Machiavellian brainwashing that it seems to us now. Churches are pretty conservative organisations and mostly go on doing what they have always done.

If you have discarded the beliefs of the church, I don't see why you should feel bound by promises made by you when younger, particularly if you were forced into them. Isn't there a procedure in some churches for getting de-baptised and formally chucked out?

At least the problem of confirmation at a young age isn't nearly as serious as forced marriage at, say, the age of 12, which occurs in some muslim communities.

Martin Gibbs

Well, I went to one confirmation prep class (raised Catholic), then afterwards I told my mother "no way, I'm not doing this. It's CONFORMING, not confirming"...

I do not regret that decision.

himynameisPwn

Martin, I wish I had the kahunas to do such a thing. It was unthinkable to me at the time.

queue

I never went through confirmation (my parents did not bring it up and neither did I).

Posted by BigJim
When I was a christian, I wondered about this also. I think it was my dad that told me that the baptism of babies was for the parents. Then I heard what was said during these baptisms and confirmations. IMO, the baby baptisms were a verbal agreement that the parents would raise the child to be a christian. The confimations were a verbal agreement that the person would be a christian.

seebs

I didn't do confirmation; my vague recollection is that the (Lutheran) pastor tried to convince my parents to make me go anyway, but I was an agnostic, insofar as I had any opinions, and I didn't feel it would be appropriate to swear to something I didn't believe.

In Catholicism, there's a reason for it. In other Christian groups, it's less necessary. I figure, God knows me well enough, I don't need to go *say* what I think. (Anyway, it's not as though what I think is constant over time.)

JohnR

I did the exactly the same thing. My Mother cried. But she got over it. In fact she went to a mass one Sunday and they played guitar and spoke english. She never went back.

Heading to Hell

Refusing to go to Confirmation classes was the first time I really stood up to my parents. Do I regret it? Would I be on these boards if I did?

I agree that the age of confirmation is way too young, and that the only reason for keeping it that way is to get people at a young age.
I just thank God (ho ho) I was never baptised...

Mecha_Dude

I had the distinct misfortune of going through all the catholic indoctrification sacrements (Baptism, Confirmation, Communion) before deciding it was a complete load of shit...

yahwehyadayada

I was forced to go to church by my mother & forced to be confirmed. Neither of them made much impression on me because I never had any interest in it. It just plain never made any sense to me.

Then there's my stepdaughter, who was forced to be confirmed (catholic) by her mother, even though they only go to church on xmas & easter.

I ate Pascal's Wafer

Same here, Mecha. I had to do every single step too. It wasn't until I was in the confirmation classes that I first started realizing that it was all a load of shit. By the time I became a non-Christian (I still believed in a god at that point, just not that one) I had already been confirmed. Gah!

-Nick