Rites of Passage.

GCSE Religious Studies (Philosophy & Ethics)

R.E GCSE Coursework

Rites of Passage

Introduction

A Rite of Passage is a ceremony, which marks a stopping or changing point on a spiritual journey. A ‘rite’ is something required in a solemn or religious event. The ‘passage’ is a reference to the idea of a journey (journey of birth to death, and beyond). Christians consider birth, maturity, marriage and death as the four Rites of Passage, birth being the first, death the last. I am concentrating on birth and maturity.

Birth is marked by different ceremonies in different Churches including infant baptism, chrismation and dedication. The method of entering the Church is by baptism, which is believed by some to cleanse your soul of original sin. Baptism is also seen as the bringing of Christ and the Holy Spirit into your life and is believed to offer you the chance of receiving eternal life. Child baptism is seen as a sign that the parents will bring the child up to follow Christian faith, and most Christians exercise child baptism although there is disagreement about when baptism should be received. The child cannot decide for itself, if it wants to be baptised, therefore Baptist churches prefer adult baptism, as they believe that baptism consists of a commitment that should be made by a mature adult Christian. The parents and godparents make promises on the child’s behalf and express the intention of bringing the child up as a Christian believer. Because baptism is delayed in Baptist churches, the baby is dedicated to God, which is a means of welcoming the new baby into their community and asking God’s blessing.

A certain Christian (Roman Catholic) viewpoint is ‘Although my child cannot decide for itself, I want its original sin forgiven and I intend it to grow up believing in Christ and his Church’. This is basically what I said earlier about the parents bringing the child up within the church, letting the child then decide when it comes to confirmation what path he or she wishes to take. If children are to be baptised the priest reminds the parents and godparents of their obligation of encouraging the child in the Christian faith and asks if they willing to fulfil these ...

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Baptism and Confirmation were once exercised together, and still are in the Orthodox Church, although in most other Churches they are separated. Originally, they were practised together by bishops but due to the overwhelming workload, it was decided that the bishop’s assistants, priests, could give baptism, and that confirmation would be set-aside for the bishop. Nowadays, in the Roman Catholic and Anglican Church, priests with permission from bishops, are allowed to confirm. The splitting of the two, Confirmation and baptism, is recognised as a useful practice, as it confirms that the baptised want to continue in their faith, and is often referred to as the believers’ baptism. Therefore, we can look upon confirmation as a ceremony that marks a mature commitment to faith, maturity being the second stage of Rites of Passage. Ceremonies of similar capacities in different cultures are taken when the young person reaches about thirteen, such as the Jewish Bar Mitzvah, and the Sikh teenagers choice of growing facial hair. In Confirmation, the candidates answer for themselves the questions that were answered by their godparents at baptism. Then the Bishop lays his hands to confirm (strengthen) them, in which the candidate receives the Spirit.

The Holy Spirit descended on the assembled group of Christians after Jesus’ death. The Holy Spirit empowered the faction with courage, inspiring them to go and state publicly the news of Jesus Christ. People who receive confirmation are expected to entrust themselves to the grounds of Christ, living a public Christian life. They are expected to be prepared to argue for their faith, and make sacrifices for their beliefs, including the withstanding persecution for their belief. These are important responsibilities, which then take a Christian forward into the responsibilities and commitment of marriage.

Conclusion

Rites of Passage are important to Christians as they sum up the life process in four basic steps. Some Christians see the two Rites of Passage I have studied as important, as they are the first two of the four Rites of Passage, signifying the growing up period in a Christian. The growing up period is the most difficult time for a Christian to maintain faith, due to hormones, peer pressure and image among other things.