[boatbums]

This is not a branding as you uncharitably describe it like a piece of property. Baptism is a sacrament that washes away “original sin” it does not guarantee a permanent state of grace. One simply does not have to go through this ritual if one leaves the faith and then decides to return. This is the teaching of the early Church fathers.

So, your "dedicated anarchist" author was baptized as a Southern Baptist years before he poped. How is it, then, that he can convert to Roman Catholicism and his Southern Baptist baptism isn't binding on him? Baptized a Southern Baptist, always a Southern Baptist...isn't that what infant baptized Roman Catholics who leave are constantly told here? The only difference is he at least gave his consent to be baptized as a statement of his faith rather than it being done to him while he was but a little baby.

[Steelfish]

Your answer proves my point. Baptism is not a branding. It’s a ritual that washes away original sin. Those whom John the Baptist baptized were free to renounce the commandments either as adults or as adolescents. You and I know there are many Catholics and Protestants who turn out to be agnostics and atheists. Indeed this is true for Jews as well as other faiths too.