The local church (Anglican, of course) has a fascinating way of increasing membership!
People like to have their babies Christened in church (don't ask me why, but they do). To have a baby christened you need Godparents. And the church here insists that all godparents must be Confirmed (which is a ceremony that makes you officially an Anglican). Not only that, living-together parents AND Godparents are put under pressure to get married, as well!
Now to my mind the Church has the status of a private club, and if you want to join the club you have to abide by it's rules, however onerous they may be. So I have no objection to this rather extreme ruling. But having got these people to formalise themselves as Anglicans, does anyone really believe it will make them Christians? I seriously doubt it. All it does is swell the paper numbers and provide numerical evidence that the priests are doing a good job by converting people, which I suppose is the underlying purpose of the ruling.
Fortunately I have no plans to be anybody's Godparent.
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