Website helps Dutch Catholics "de-baptize" over gay marriage

[rug]

AMSTERDAM | Thu Dec 27, 2012 12:00pm EST

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Thousands of Dutch Catholics are researching how they can leave the church in protest at its opposition to gay marriage, according to the creator of a website aimed at helping them find the information.

Tom Roes, whose website allows people to download the documents needed to leave the church, said traffic on ontdopen.nl - "de-baptise.nl" - had soared from about 10 visits a day to more than 10,000 after Pope Benedict's latest denunciation of gay marriage this month.

"Of course it's not possible to be 'de-baptized' because a baptism is an event, but this way people can unsubscribe or de-register themselves as Catholics," Roes told Reuters.

He said he did not know how many visitors to the site actually go ahead and leave the church.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/12/27/us-netherlands-catholic-protest-idUSBRE8BQ0ER20121227

http://ontdopen.nl/

The website is in Dutch but from what I can see it's trivializing the issue.

[musical_soul]

1. If you don't want to be Catholic, don't go to church.

It's that simple.

Yeah, you'll still be considered Catholic in the eyes of the church, but I wouldn't let that hold me if I was strongly against the RCC.