Take off Christening on FSFT
During a conversation with a patron on FSFT, she suggested that having the area for Christening is an offense to other religions who do not practice Christening, especially to African-American Baptists. Attempted multiple times to explain to patron that it is a blank area for people to fill in if a Christening occurred. Explained that Christening has been practiced for hundreds of years in many religions and that it is part of the FSFT blank template. If a Christening did not take place, it is left blank and has no bearing on the person's history. Advised patron that I would submit her suggestion to take off the Christening.
Comments
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I've never been sure why people are so unhappy with blank spots on forms.
When this comes up, please mention that it is very important for many people to have that Christening spot there as a stand in for Birth. For example, prior to 1815 in Norway parish registers which were the only record of births and only rarely contained birth information. They were church records so only recorded church events, that is, Christenings, Marriages, and Burials. Not births or deaths.
There have been discussions on and off here in Communities and in previous feedback forums among users as to whether the name of that field should be changed from Christening to "Infant Naming Event" to broaden its universality. That does not seem to have gotten any traction with anyone at FamilySearch. But in any event, it should never be removed.
There have also been discussions as to whether infant christenings and infant baptisms are one event or two. Some one these boards have stated that they are two separate ceremonies that occur at the same time. If you take that point of view, then an infant christening is pretty similar to a Baptist infant dedication.
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