"we don't practice infant baptism" would be accurate whether it really meant "our church baptises when the child is old enough to choose it" or "we don't baptise later on, either".
Heh. This is totally what I was going to suggest.
"Did you know your sister's church practices full immersion?"
I'm Catholic, so this seems a little weird to me too. Even though I know that in the Bible, it's all wading into the river and stuff. I'm still like "You get your *whole body* in there? All wet? So dramatic!"
I forget what age Catholic kids are confirmed at.
Depends on the church--usually around 14, these days, but I think my dad was confirmed (back in the 40s) around 7 or 8.
My grandfather was baptized in the Jordan River, during WWI. I always thought that was kind of neat.
That's VERY neat! Especially if it was the first/only baptism.
lest they end up saying silly things like Howard Dean did about the Bible.
What did he say about the Bible??
Just as a data point, I knew both a female John (possibly spelled Jon) and a female Michael in college.
When I was growing up, every Sunday in church we would hear them ask us to bless "Michelle Sabat, patriarch in Jerusalem", and I was so confused, how a girl could be a patriarch. Except it was "Michel". :)
Well, Peach is a girl's name, so why not Apple?
Because I'd laugh at a girl named "Peach" too???
I'm still like "You get your *whole body* in there? All wet? So dramatic!"
Oh, you're totally right. It's the drama that makes it sit uneasily with some folks, I'd bet, like my staid Presbyterian crowd.
What did he say about the Bible??
I think when asked what his favorite NT book was, he named an OT book--Job, IIRC.
I kind of like the name Apple for someone else's baby. Not mine, obviously, but insofar as lame celebrity names goes, it's no Kal-El Cage.
Esme used to be a boy's name. Though obviously, that had changed by the 1870s when my great-grandmother was born.
Whitney Rushmore.
Also, from way back, the "funniest religious jokes", I especially like this one (and not just because of who submitted it!)
Joke submitted by Spike:
A man ran through a crowded train looking very agitated, calling out, "Is there a Catholic priest on board?"
When he got no reply, he ran back up the train shouting, "Is there an Anglican priest on board?" Still no reply.
By now becoming more desparate, he ran down the train shouting, "Is there a Rabbi on board?"
Eventually, a gentleman stood up and said, "Can I be of any assistance, my friend? I'm a Methodist minister."
The man looked at him and said, "No, you're no bloody good. I need a corkscrew!"
Cinder 35th Ave SW just doesn't work.
Ruff Longstone
(Full-immersion baptism is eccentric to my peeps who are presbyterians and scowl at the minister if the baby's dress gets sprinkled during the christening)
Werve Prospect doesn't really make it either. (My first pet was an abandoned kitten who ended up sleeping in the UPI copy at my college radio station, WRVU.)
