Getting Unconfirmed

An email correspondence that you may be interested in...

-------------------------------
to David Moxon, Bishop of Waikato, New Zealand
date Apr 5, 2009 10:50 AM
subject Unconfirmation

Greetings

As a fifteen-year old in 1977 I was pressured into being confirmed into the Anglican "communion", despite my doubts and strong feelings that it was a primitive rite-of-passage ceremony enforced by tradition but with no modern meaning.

Now, as a strong atheist, I want to be officially unconfirmed, and my name removed from any roll or record associated with the ceremony.

Can you please inform me how I can do this?

Regards,

-------------------------------
date Apr 6, 2009 9:24 AM
subject RE: Unconfirmation

Dear ,

greetings to you. Thank you for your enquiry. I respect your integrity and the good reasons you have for wanting to correct a record. In the Anglican church we don't have a facility for undoing a confirmation, because we respect the right of an individual to exercise a freedom of conscience in spiritual matters. So your feeling now that you were not and are not confirmed in a real way is respected as real by us.

If you would like you name removed from the record because it is null and void and not real at the time, this annulment is done by asking the register of the Diocese where it occurred to delete your name from our record. We would need the name, date and location of the the church where this occurred. Do send these through and we will action this.

With best wishes
David Moxon
Bishop of Waikato

-------------------------------

to David Moxon
date Sep 26, 2009 12:36 PM
subject Re: Unconfirmation

David

I would like to have my name removed from the confirmation register.

It has not been easy to get the necessary details - the best I could discover was that I was confirmed in 1976 at the Kings College Capel by The Right Reverend S.N.Spence, who was the Assistant Bishop of Auckland at the time. This information was provided by Warner Wilder.

In your earlier email you wrote, "we don't have a facility for undoing a confirmation". This seems like a major oversight, considering that this affirmation is a very public event in a young person's life. It is entirely unbalanced that such a public display could not be equally publicly renounced!

You also wrote "we respect the right of an individual to exercise a freedom of conscience in spiritual matters". Do you mean the Anglican Church no longer performs baptisms and confirmations on individuals who do not have the awareness or autonomy to choose for themselves?

Or maybe not.

Rather, I think you support an intellectually and morally bankrupt system that enables public affirmation, but merely private renunciation. Well, atheists such as myself will not be silenced any more!

I expect you to have my name removed from your files, particularly regarding this confirmation, and to provide evidence that this has been done.

Regards

-------------------------------