Count Me Out forms

eviltwin

Hi guys

I recently downloaded and filled and posted the forms to the Archbishop to get removed from the parish records.

Does anyone know if you get anything back in the way of a letter of confirmation to say its been done? I have visions of the forms getting shoved in the recycle bin....

Zillah

Apparently they give a confirmation. I've yet to bother doing it myself. Must get around to it once I'm back in the country.

axer

The bishop of the diocese sent me a small card saying that my baptismal cert had been amended and that if I wanted to discuss it to ring him. They didnt send me a copy of my amended baptismal cert though which is what I would have liked to have so that I could know for sure it was done.

snosae

it is one of the most worthhwhile things that you can do if you are an atheist - its stops these religious parasites form claiming you as oart of their "silent majority" - as someone with loved ones directly affected by the abuses of the clergy, I cannot say how important it is to do them down

snosae

btw - I'm pretty new here. Earlier I was banned permanently from a forum about attending mass because, I admit, I went off on one about how important I think it is to drown out the angelus with loud music as a protest against religious liars. anyway I was banned permanently and the reason given was "troll" - I'm assuming that I pissed off a priest or something but what does it mean?

rccaulfield

snosae wrote: »

btw - I'm pretty new here. Earlier I was banned permanently from a forum about attending mass because, I admit, I went off on one about how important I think it is to drown out the angelus with loud music as a protest against religious liars. anyway I was banned permanently and the reason given was "troll" - I'm assuming that I pissed off a priest or something but what does it mean?

Trool means you have 2 usernames as far as i know! Sending off my form nexy week- any updates on confirmation(lol) anyone?

robindch

On the wider internet, the word "troll" means somebody who posts inflammatory message with the specific intention of riling the readers and engaging them in a debate under false pretenses. More on that usage here. More recently, it appears to have acquired the meaning of somebody who expresses ideas that are not supported by a forum moderator.

With respect to boards.ie, you can have a ban reviewed in the Help Desk.

Dades

snosae wrote: »

btw - I'm pretty new here. Earlier I was banned permanently from a forum about attending mass because, I admit, I went off on one about how important I think it is to drown out the angelus with loud music as a protest against religious liars. anyway I was banned permanently and the reason given was "troll" - I'm assuming that I pissed off a priest or something but what does it mean?

Why exactly are you posting about your banning issues in this thread? Sorry for your troubles but this ain't the place.

Linoge

I really don't see the neccesity in deregistering yourself. Getting your baptismal cert amended does not sound very atheist to me. Its almost like it adds weight to the waterboarding ceremony given that you have to go to such lengths to "unchristen" yourself. Surely the proper atheist stance would be that such a ceremony is meaningless and that a piece of paper held by a religous organistaion really does not mean anything?

As for removing for statistic purposes as per Snosae, if this information was making it into the census I would say fair enough, but to remove for the sake of internal church figures I think is a bit silly.

argolis

I didn't use the Count Me Out forms and didn't ask for confirmation. I had to make the request a second time explicitly asking for it in order to get a response, so I'd advise putting in words to that effect.

To the previous poster who asks what's the point, well I'm sure it wouldn't bother any atheist if it had no effect but being counted as one of the Church's numbers does have an effect. The more numbers they can declare, the more powerful their social and political influence.

bleg

It has taken me since July until last week, with repeated pressure via email to ask them to remove me from the baptismal record. It takes a while because of the "phenomenal volume of these types of requests."

snosae

sorry, just a question - like I say, I'm new here

snosae

robindch wrote: »

On the wider internet, the word "troll" means somebody who posts inflammatory message with the specific intention of riling the readers and engaging them in a debate under false pretenses. More on that usage here. More recently, it appears to have acquired the meaning of somebody who expresses ideas that are not supported by a forum moderator.

With respect to boards.ie, you can have a ban reviewed in the Help Desk.

thats my error - I really apologise. I guess I shouldn't have posted right after listening to the news

axer

Linoge wrote: »

I really don't see the neccesity in deregistering yourself. Getting your baptismal cert amended does not sound very atheist to me. Its almost like it adds weight to the waterboarding ceremony given that you have to go to such lengths to "unchristen" yourself. Surely the proper atheist stance would be that such a ceremony is meaningless and that a piece of paper held by a religous organistaion really does not mean anything?

It does matter because they are also used as historic records.

mjg

Being a godless heathen, I thought about opting out from the church during the year. Being a lazy, godless heathen I really wasn't bothered about my name on a piece of paper in some diosescan (sp?) office which didn't have any relevance to me, my opinions and my life.

Now is the time though, even if it makes no difference in the larger scale of things, I refuse to allow the CC to keep my name on their books, even if it's just a symbolic personal protest.

nozzferrahhtoo

eviltwin wrote: »

Does anyone know if you get anything back in the way of a letter of confirmation to say its been done? I have visions of the forms getting shoved in the recycle bin....

Actually you do get stuff back and sometimes you even get invited to an interview first. the Count me out website has a FAQ with most of this information in it.

However if you want to learn more then pop over to www.atheist.ie as there is a forum there too. Specifically this thread...

http://www.atheist.ie/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2524

... is full of users who have done it and they describe how it went, what the interviews were like, and what they received in the post. If you still have questions after reading all that, which I doubt, just join up and post the questions and the folks there will be happy to help.

Funglegunk

Considering doing this, especially after reading todays paper.

How and where does the church use these internal statistics does anybody know? How do the numbers increase their social and political influence? Just lobbying politicians?

nozzferrahhtoo

Linoge wrote: »

I really don't see the neccesity in deregistering yourself. Getting your baptismal cert amended does not sound very atheist to me.

I know what you mean, but there are two things you have to factor in.

The first is the "vote with your feet" effect. Leaving officially sends a clear message to this Church. Remember, it is not only atheists doing this!!! There are theists too. One of the three founders is a lapsed catholic believer himself as I understand it. These people have not lost their faith in god, they just do not think this church speaks TO or FOR them anymore.

The second thing you have to factor in political power. Any political issue results in people going before their politicians and canvasing them. The first thing a politician is interested in is votes. So when you go before them the first thing they ask themselves is "How many people does this person represent". These people who take their name off the Church's books are doing so because they no longer want Elderly virgins in dresses speaking on their behalf to the government.

axer

nozzferrahhtoo wrote: »

I know what you mean, but there are two things you have to factor in.

The first is the "vote with your feet" effect. Leaving officially sends a clear message to this Church. Remember, it is not only atheists doing this!!! There are theists too. One of the three founders is a lapsed catholic believer himself as I understand it. These people have not lost their faith in god, they just do not think this church speaks TO or FOR them anymore.

The second thing you have to factor in political power. Any political issue results in people going before their politicians and canvasing them. The first thing a politician is interested in is votes. So when you go before them the first thing they ask themselves is "How many people does this person represent". These people who take their name off the Church's books are doing so because they no longer want Elderly virgins in dresses speaking on their behalf to the government.

I would agree with this and even go further that if people were to go to the trouble of sending this one letter (which really only takes a few minutes to do) then I would think they will be more likely to not write "Catholic" on the census form like so many people do just because they were baptised Catholic. I know so many people out there that write Catholic on that form just for the aforementioned reason.

Mark Hamill

nozzferrahhtoo wrote: »

The second thing you have to factor in political power. Any political issue results in people going before their politicians and canvasing them. The first thing a politician is interested in is votes. So when you go before them the first thing they ask themselves is "How many people does this person represent". These people who take their name off the Church's books are doing so because they no longer want Elderly virgins in dresses speaking on their behalf to the government.

My problem is that given everything else they lie about, I dont trust the elderly virgins to be honest when claiming how many people they have on their books. Its not like they bring their lists to the politicans, with the countmeout names struck through in red or something. The best thing I think is to get people to label themselves properly in the census, the governmenst own official and (reasonably) up to date list.

nozzferrahhtoo

Agreed, clearly. I think it important to do BOTH. Not either/or.

Linoge

I very much doubt that politicians consult the clergy on any matters of consequence. Ireland is religous by the vast majority, whether this is the vast majority of 85% or 80%, it is still the vast majority. You do not need to consult a priest for numbers to realise this.At most the official census figures may be used.

@ Axer - no self respecting atheist would state that they belong to a religion, no matter what ceremonies were imposed upon them.

axer

[/quote]@ Axer - no self respecting atheist would state that they belong to a religion, no matter what ceremonies were imposed upon them.[/quote]Who said anything about athiests? I'm talking about those who are not catholics but think they should put down catholic because they were brought up a catholic.

Linoge

axer wrote: »

Who said anything about athiests?

You are posting in Atheism and Agnosticism, I think that is usually implied, or at least can be taken for granted until stated otherwise...

axer wrote: »

I'm talking about those who are not catholics but think they should put down catholic because they were brought up a catholic.

I still don't see the difference. If someone no longer feels they belong to a religion, no taking your name off a list is going to make a difference how you feel or what you put down on a form.

RonMexico

I am interested in following through with this process myself. Recently I had to go to hospital and when I was checking in I was surprised that they asked me what my religion was. You should have seen the dirty look I got when I said that I was an atheist. I think I started to feel better from that point on lol:D

robindch

RonMexico wrote: »

Recently I had to go to hospital and when I was checking in I was surprised that they asked me what my religion was. You should have seen the dirty look I got when I said that I was an atheist.

I was up in Temple Street a few days back with my 3yo, and after asking for her name and DOB, the medical receptionist wanted to know what religion she was. I explained she was a kid and hadn't developed any military, political or religious views -- not exactly the right answer either, to judge by the look I got.

Must remember to follow up this with the Data Protection Commissioners.