Europeans seeking baptismal reversals

PARIS, Jan. 19 (UPI) -- Observers say there appears to be a growing trend in Europe of people seeking to be removed from church baptismal rolls.

No one keeps statistics on baptismal reversals, Voice of America reported Thursday. Terry Sanderson, head of the National Secular Society in Britain, said more than 100,000 copies of a "debaptism certificate" posted on the group's Web site have been downloaded although it has no official standing.

Sanderson said the trend, which affects both Catholic and Protestant churches, has been fueled by the child sex abuse scandal in the Catholic Church.

"It was a joke to begin with, but now it has taken on a new significance because there are so many people who are anxious to leave the church that they are actually taking it seriously now, and they want some way to make their break with the church formal," he said. "Often the church won't acknowledge their desire to leave."

Anne Morelli of the Free University of Brussels agrees the child abuse scandal is fueling the movement. She said the number of requests for debaptism picked up in 2011, mostly in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Austria.

Christian Weisner of We Are Church said 181,000 German Catholics left the church last year, setting a record. He said for the first time more Catholics than Protestants opted out of paying church taxes.

In France last year a court ruled the Catholic Church must grant a 71-year-old man's request to have his name taken off the baptismal roll. The church has appealed the decision.