Since when did a Baptism Certificate become proof of Date of Birth?

I am not surprised at this, Baptism certificate is considered at par with birth certificate in several states. Have seen it many times though I don’t remember exact instances. Incidentally, despite Goa’s significant Christian population such a practice is not common here. Reason is that we are not governed by GOI’s minority favoring laws. Our uniform civil code believes only in secular certificates such as birth and marriage certificates.

However going deep into this aspect is likely to uncover many things.
Questions
1. Doesn’t this law helps conversions especially in orphanages? Got a child, dont have birth certificate? Baptize him/her and you get one. The priest can thus convert them while showing pretence of service and love.

2. Tribals who don’t have birth certificates might approach to local priest when require one which they will get instantly.

3. Why a certificate issued by non-state non-secular agency must be trusted?

No, nothing surprising here!!! Minorities will do whatever their religion would dictate, majorities have only one religious duty: make way for them.

What did you expect? 90% of our community are sitting idle playing “I-am-more-secular” game even when more serious signs are coming up. Take a look at this:

http://www.dailypioneer.com/249530/Are-Hindus-%E2%80%98others%E2%80%99.html

This is not surprising, this has been in practise in Govt. for the last 2 decades or so if i remember right. Almost all Govt. bodies accept Baptism certificate as standard age proof. We have failed to check this out for a long time or rather it has creeped in silently as lot of other ‘minority’ issues. The reason or logic which is treated is that Baptism is recorded in the Church & Church maintains record. This could be true with an big establishment like Roman Catholic Church,but prone for manipulations, considering bulk ‘harvesting of souls’by self styled evangelist- this is a dangerous trend & will be misused.
@Sid:My view is that we dont ‘make way for them’, just that our civilazation has all along practised acceptance of any practise, that we fail to see the danger signals immediately.
We can use this as an opportunity to compile a list of establishments/Govt.- State & Central which accept Baptism Certificate as Age proof. IRDA accepts Baptism certificate as Standard Age proof- High Risk business, but without logic.

Vande Mataram

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Is there any central authority which issues these certificates? if not then how can be they considered as reliable?..and why to give only one religious group this advantage like this?…may questions should be answered to allow this to continue.
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FYI

“बैप्टिज़्म सर्टिफ़िकेट” की वैधता और पोलैण्ड के राष्ट्रपति की मौत पर विज्ञापन : कुछ विशिष्ट संकेत…… Baptism Certificate Date of Birth Proof and Church
हाल ही में दो घटनाओं पर मेरी नज़र पड़ी और उन्हें पढ़कर मैं थोड़ा आश्चर्यचकित हूं, थोड़ा भ्रमित हूं और थोड़ा संशय की स्थिति में हूं। कृपया इन दोनों घटनाओं पर नज़र डालें और जो सवाल उठ रहे हैं, उनके जवाब देकर मेरा सामान्य ज्ञान बढ़ायें।

http://blog.sureshchiplunkar.com/2010/04/baptism-certificate-date-of-birth-proof.html

Dear Sir,

I would like to know the response of the authorities to your letter regarding this matter.

what did Mr. Uchil say, if something at all.

If any assistance is needed, I would like to know.

Dear Shantanu,

An application should be filed under RTI act, asking

1. Since when has the organization accepted baptism certificate as a proof of date of birth.

2. How many persons have submitted this certificate since that date.

3. Names of all such persons.

Then we can follow it up in courts.

I can take care of the follow up in courts.

Thanks.

Shantanu ji,

I’m feeling dumbfounded now. Its ridiculous and irritating.
Looks like goa-inquisition is repeating.

Jai Bharat!

Fact is a fact. its a matter of accurate documentation only and not about bias or secularism.
In Goa, despite of uniform civil code still today church documents like, baptism certificate is accepted. But not as much as in other states because Goa when under the Portuguese regime had an excellent record system that was (equally good as church records) very accurate .
While in other states despite of British rule there was no registration system (e.g. in South Indian states) this continued even few years after independence, hence the church was the only institution to have proper records then. So it is an established fact that these documents since then were authentic and could be used even in a court case.
Tomorrow if Hindus or Muslims come with a similar foolproof system, it is certain that the govt. may accept it too as confirmatory document in case of forgery or other malpractices. Remember Sikhs too have an excellent Marriage record.
To tell you more, in addition to the the Indian census, the church too caries out its own census of its followers every year as counter-system to check accuracy of documents. However, this census has nothing to do with the govt. census and is not used for any reason. Except these document.

So please stop targeting the Church and the Christians for no sensible reasons on such small topics unless you are small minded. These documentation systems are not a privilege bestowed by Indian govt. but a duty of the church to the nation, the community and justice, and not to the Vatican. Even if such record system is invalidated tomorrow, still it will continue only as a duty.

I still wonder why people like you take delight and pride in insulting other religions. Does this give you satisfaction?