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I was baptized as a Catholic at a young age, however have never attended a Catholic church or mass, or otherwise practiced Catholicism. Instead, I now am a non-Catholic Christian. Would other Christian denominations typically allow me to be baptized into their denomination, even if I was baptized as a Catholic? What is an overview of common views?

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  • Welcome to Christianity.SE. For a quick overview, please take the Site Tour. First of all, by the definitions of this site, Catholics are Christians, because they consider themselves to be Christian. Beyond that, you'll need to talk to the pastor of whatever church you attend and ask this question. Different churches have different policies. Some will accept your Catholic baptism, others will not. We can't answer your question here because there are too many different churches with too many different policies.
    – Lee Woofenden
    Mar 30, 2017 at 1:40
  • But in general, any Christian church you join will either accept your Catholic baptism as valid or will rebaptize you if they don't. Either way it's not an issue. For more on what this site is all about, please see: How we are different than other sites.
    – Lee Woofenden
    Mar 30, 2017 at 1:46

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It's going to depend on the denomination you want to be baptized by.

For denominations that accept infant baptism you have no need to be rebaptized. Your Catholic baptism is a valid Christian baptism. Even if you want to those denominations probably won't baptise you again, because it is virtually universally believed that you cannot be validly baptized twice. However they will happily admit you to their denomination on the basis of your Catholic baptism. They may even have a ceremony for admitting you.

Denominations that do not accept infant baptism will not consider your previous baptism valid, and will be very happy to baptize you. They will probably require it if you are to join their church.

If you want to be rebaptized, but your new denomination considers you already baptized, there is nothing to stop you having a private ceremony in which you dedicate you life to Jesus and are immersed in water. Your denomination may not consider it a baptism, but since they believe you are already baptized it won't be a problem.

A few denominations such as Jehovah's Witnesses and Latter Day Saints will require you to be rebaptized when you join them no matter who previously baptized you. There may also be a few other exceptions, mostly denominations that do not believe in the Trinity.

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  • Regarding denominations that consider you already baptized, they would see asking for a new baptism like asking for a second wedding to your spouse. The purpose is already fulfilled and there is nothing about you that has changed in their eyes, so it is completely unnecessary with no real benefit.
    – Thunderforge
    Mar 30, 2017 at 4:43
  • I think this answer would be approved if it gave examples of denominations that accepted infant baptism and those that do not.
    – Thunderforge
    Mar 30, 2017 at 4:46
  • Hello DJClayworth. "Mostly denominations that do not believe in the Trinity". I don't see the correlation between believing in the Trinity and being rebaptized. Is this from personal experience, or is there some quantifiable data that supports this?
    – JesusIsComingSoon
    Mar 30, 2017 at 17:56
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    @jlaverde Groups that do not believe in the Trinity generally do not accept baptisms in the name of the Trinity (as Catholic ones are). Specific other examples are Oneness and Jesus Name Pentecostals. There are certainly exceptions to that rule.
    – DJClayworth
    Mar 30, 2017 at 18:17
  • "For denominations that accept infant baptism you have no need to be rebaptized". This is actually not universally true. In 1755, the Orthodox Patriarchates of Constantinople, Alexandria, and Jerusalem forbad the reception of converts without re-baptism (Russia did not). This practice ended in the 20th century, but certain Greek Orthodox schismatics ("Old Calendarists") continue to require all converts to undergo baptism, regardless of whether or not they had been baptized in their previous faith.
    – guest37
    Mar 31, 2017 at 17:29

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