It\u2019s one of the most famous scenes in cinema. \u201cMichael Francis Rizzi, do you renounce Satan?\u201d\u009d asks the priest. \u201cI do renounce him,\u201d\u009d replies Michael, straight-faced, knowing full well that his orders to murder Moe Greene, Emilio Barzini, Philip Tattaglia, Victor Stracci and Carmine Cuneo are being carried out at that very moment. A particularly over-the-top organ piece by Bach reaches its climax. \u201cAnd all his works?\u201d\u009d asks the priest. Michael repeats: \u201cI do renounce them.\u201d\u009d Brilliant stuff. And a perfect rendition of the moral\/existential drama of baptism. It\u2019s not just a little bit of genteel water-sprinkling. It\u2019s not just a chance to get out that floral patterned dress and drink lukewarm cava with a few select friends. It\u2019s a scary participatory drama of death and new life.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, however, the Church of England has just agreed to take the devil out of the baptism liturgy. \u201cThose who work with young people give constant advice that references to the devil are likely to be misunderstood in today\u2019s culture,\u201d\u009d the Bishop of Truro told the Church of England\u2019s General Synod this week. What a pity. I\u2019m going to miss the devil and all his works. I always thought those passages rather importantly referenced that little bit of Michael Corleone in all of us. And by their omission, we are being taken still further along the road from baptism as an expression of the big themes of death and resurrection to baptism as a polite middle-class naming ceremony….<\/p>\n