Question Re: Christening/Godparents

[r***@hotmail.com]

Hi there,

Forgive me if I am posting in entirely the wrong place but I am hoping
that someone will be able to answer my question.

Although not necessarily devout, regular Church-goers, my husband and I
are Christians (C of E) and we intend to have our new baby boy
Christened later this year. We are in the process of deciding who to
ask to be Godparents. I understand the main role of a Godparent is to
give every encouragement to follow Christ, and to set an example of
Christian living however, my question is this:

We have a very close, dear friend that we have both known for many
years and whom we trust implicitly. The issue is that he is Sikh. Is
there any reason why he should not be able to ensure our child is
encouraged to follow Christ?

I am confused but I do know this - our friend may not be able to set an
example of Christian living per se, but he could set a fine example of
how to follow your faith with head held high.

For information, the other Godfather and Godmother that we have chosen
to ask are Christian.

If I am posting in the wrong place with my question, perhaps someone
could point me in the right direction.

Thank you.

[Andrew McMullon]

Post by r***@hotmail.com
Hi there,
Forgive me if I am posting in entirely the wrong place but I am hoping
that someone will be able to answer my question.
Although not necessarily devout, regular Church-goers, my husband and I
are Christians (C of E) and we intend to have our new baby boy
Christened later this year. We are in the process of deciding who to
ask to be Godparents. I understand the main role of a Godparent is to
give every encouragement to follow Christ, and to set an example of
We have a very close, dear friend that we have both known for many
years and whom we trust implicitly. The issue is that he is Sikh. Is
there any reason why he should not be able to ensure our child is
encouraged to follow Christ?
I am confused but I do know this - our friend may not be able to set an
example of Christian living per se, but he could set a fine example of
how to follow your faith with head held high.
For information, the other Godfather and Godmother that we have chosen
to ask are Christian.
If I am posting in the wrong place with my question, perhaps someone
could point me in the right direction.

It is a very interesting question and one that comes up pretty
regularly.

The strict answer is that it is not possible for a member of another
Faith Community to act as a Godparent in a Christian (Anglican)
baptism service. They must be baptized Christians and preferably also
confirmed. This is explained on the cofe website:

http://www.cofe.anglican.org/lifeevents/baptismconfirm/sectionb.html

A Godparent at a Christian baptism service has to make very specific
statements, both for the child and for themselves, about personally
following turning to, trusting and following Christ. I doubt a Sikh
could make these statements with any integrity because if he did he
would no longer be a Sikh but a Christian.

However, I don't think there is any reason why you cannot ask your
Sikh friend to be an informal Godparent and include him in the day's
celebrations as such. I can see lots of reasons why you think he is
an ideal person to encourage and inspire a life of faith.

[Kendall K. Down]

Post by r***@hotmail.com
Forgive me if I am posting in entirely the wrong place but I am hoping
that someone will be able to answer my question.

Welcome. This group is more for discussion than providing definitive
answers, but you are certainly free to pose as many questions as you like.

Post by r***@hotmail.com
We have a very close, dear friend that we have both known for many
years and whom we trust implicitly. The issue is that he is Sikh. Is
there any reason why he should not be able to ensure our child is
encouraged to follow Christ?

I think it would depend very much on both the denomination rules and the
views of the clergy person performing the christening. I suggest that you
speak to that person before you approach your Sikh friend.

For what it is worth, Sikhs are very fine people (as always, there are
exceptions) with high moral and ethical standards. However they are not
Christians and my personal opinion is that a Sikh could not be a godparent.
As I said, however, consult with your local clergyperson.

God bless,
Kendall K. Down

[Gareth McCaughan]

Post by r***@hotmail.com
We have a very close, dear friend that we have both known for many
years and whom we trust implicitly. The issue is that he is Sikh. Is
there any reason why he should not be able to ensure our child is
encouraged to follow Christ?

Andrew McMullon has already given an excellent answer, to which
I'd like to add a few little things.

1. The answer to your question there is certainly no. There's
no reason at all why he shouldn't be able to do that. But
being a godparent at an Anglican baptism involves other
things. (Perhaps it shouldn't; but it does.)

Post by r***@hotmail.com
I am confused but I do know this - our friend may not be able to set an
example of Christian living per se, but he could set a fine example of
how to follow your faith with head held high.

2. I bet that's true, but (again, perhaps unfortunately) that
isn't quite the "job description" for a godparent.

Post by r***@hotmail.com
If I am posting in the wrong place with my question, perhaps someone
could point me in the right direction.

3. This isn't a wrong place, but you can probably get a more
informative answer by talking to your local vicar, or whoever
you'd planned to officiate. They can't change the rules, but
they might be prepared to bend them if you and your friend
are happy with that (but, if he's a fine example of following
his faith with head held high, he may not be willing to say
some of the things he'd be required to say...) and, more
likely, they might be able to suggest some way of doing things
that would be acceptable to the CoE and involve your friend
without requiring anyone to say things that aren't true.

Best of luck with the arrangements; if you do find a neat
way of resolving things, it would be interesting to know
what it is!

You might want to take a look at

http://www.cofe.anglican.org/worship/liturgy/commonworship/texts/initiation/baptism.html

where the full text of the standard Anglican baptism service
is provided. (If you're going to take the rule-bending route,
you should take note of the optional alternative forms of the
"Decision" and "Profession of Faith".)