Baptism.
Water and the triune name — death of the old life, birth of the new. The one initiation nearly every branch keeps.
Baptism is the entry rite, and the fault line is age: paedobaptist traditions (Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran, Anglican, Reformed) baptize infants on the grounds that the covenant precedes the individual's decision; credobaptists (Baptists, Anabaptists, Pentecostals) require personal profession, and therefore re-baptize converts from infant-baptizing churches — which is what "Anabaptist" originally meant as an insult. Mode divides too: immersion, pouring, sprinkling. Most churches nonetheless recognize each other's baptisms, which makes it Christianity's most ecumenical sacrament.
The same ground, other faiths
rites that share this one's ideasSign in to open the first thread. Everything here is attributed.
