Atheists and other Non-Christians, have you baptized your Christian friends?

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I baptized my good Jewish friend, years ago, using the form indicated for a “conditional baptism” (that is, when any baptized Christian can baptize another person) And so I pronounced her to be a “shiksa” (not sure about the spelling, it’s Yiddish after all!) At the time, it was a silly juvenile thing to do (not that such youth invalidated the legitimacy of the rite.)

She has survived all these years (nearly 40)

What is the point of such a silly thread?
 
jfallaw said:
I think the point of the thread was to see how many people love their neighbor. Scratch one.
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Then I have misunderstood. Sorry about that. I do love my neighbor and do as many good turns as I can every day. I suppose if called upon to baptize, I would do so (again!)
 
KarenNC said:
I am not sure which religions would have something that is substantially equivalent to the requirement for baptism to prevent even an infant from eternal punishment simply for existing, though. Something that would constitute an emergency religious situation that they could not take care of themselves (prayer, etc) in such an emergency. If one doesn’t have a doctrine of something equivalent to original sin, then it becomes a different circumstance.
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Well, I have heard of non-Jewish doctors (non-mohel obviously) performing circumcisions in cases of emergency. They are performing a medical act however, and a ceremonial act may be done later by a mohel.

I would do it (baptize a child in immediate need) even though I don’t believe in Christianity. I find it odd that that detail wouldn’t matter and can’t believe that a baptism by a non-Christian stranger would be preferable to a baptism by the (assumedly Christian) parent.

Now, say it’s an adult who’s requesting baptism. Am I, a fairly knowledgeable about Christianity Jew (who is also a former Christian) expected to quiz the person about their belief in the principles of the Christian faith? Because that would just be weird! I mean, if I ask him so do you believe that “by the power of the Holy Spirit, He was born of the Virgin Mary , and became man” and he says no, my response would be what? Me neither, but you know you should if you want baptism?
 
I was listening to Father Corapi yesterday on EWTN. In the case of baptism, the worthiness (or lack thereof) of the person doing the baptism is not controlling. The sacrament has its own validity and power. Baptism is one sacrament that a priest is not necessary to perform. But the acceptance of the one being baptized is important.

It seems to me that we may be omitting some important points in this discussion.
 
I personally have not performed any baptisms. But if my doing it were the only way somebody who had personally requested it could be baptized before dying, I would. What would it matter to me, other than that a dying person was calmed and comforted?
 
Mirdath said:
I personally have not performed any baptisms. But if my doing it were the only way somebody who had personally requested it could be baptized before dying, I would. What would it matter to me, other than that a dying person was calmed and comforted?
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I was not raised a Friend, I was “convinced” at the age of 19. I am now 53. My mom died of cancer about 15 years ago. She requested that I baptize her while under the care of hospice. She and I spoke at length concerning the love of God. She also asked that I conduct her memorial service as she didn’t want anyone speaking the parting prayers over her that didn’t know her or her spiritual condition…I consented to both.

My niece has requested baptism from me, but as a Friend under this circumstance I politely refused but offered to “assist” and find a minister who believed in the rite of baptism.

Like Midrath, I would perform the rite regardless of what I believed…it would be for their comfort and benefit and if it assisted them to face their death with some peace, I would not refuse in the least.
 
I am not sure why I did not post this sooner, because it would have helped. The reason that the faith of the baptisor is not an issue is simple. If the minister of a Sacrament had to truly believe, not just have the intent and do it correctly, there is no telling how many invallid masses there would have been. Humans have doubts. Some priests do as well. I have read stories of priests who were on the verge of atheism or beyond. FOr the people in the pews, those masses counted. It was not as if they missed it since the priest did not believe that anyhting was happening.

Note that the baptism by a person who is not ordained is a last resort kind of thing.

The more I think about it, I would do what is asked of me as long as no one would be hurt.
 
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