Baptism Vs. Christening
For families with a new infant, understanding the difference between baptism and christening can be confusing. Researching the topic turns up a wide range of opinions on how the two ceremonies compare. For the most part, the baptism vs. christening debate depends primarily on individual faith traditions, or lack thereof.
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Definitions
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Christening refers to the naming of something or someone. Baptism refers to the sacrament in which Christians acknowledge and celebrate God's gift of grace in their lives.
Baptism Ritual
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For most Christian faith traditions today, there is no distinction between christening and baptism. In the past, children often were given their Christian names, or first and middle names, as part of the baptism ritual. Today, the Christian name is used in the ceremony without the family or surname to signify their membership in the family of Christ.
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Christening Ceremony
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A baptism is always a religious ritual. However, when infant baptism is not recognized by a religion or faith tradition, a family might consider a christening as a means of dedicating their child to God. For families with no religious affiliation or faith tradition, a christening may serve as a way to celebrate the birth of a child through a public naming ceremony.
Misconceptions
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The word christening is commonly used to describe the ceremony for naming or dedicating something new, especially ships. Some faith traditions feel using the word christening in place of baptism minimizes the significance of infant baptism or that it implies infant baptism is not as legitimate as adult baptism.
Considerations
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Both the religious baptism ritual and the nonreligious christening ceremony are public celebrations of a child. The babies typically wear a white outfit or gown representing their innocence, and participants bring small gifts acknowledging the event.
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