A Church in Nottinghamshire is refused a full-body baptism pool after judge rules it a 'needless waste of water'

A Church of England parish has been refused permission to install a full-body baptism pool after a judge warned it would result in a “needless waste of water”.

St Mary’s Church in Radcliffe-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire, had applied for permission to use a portable immersion baptistery capable of holding 940 litres.

But Christopher Ockelton, chancellor of the Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham, rejected the application after concluding that the church did not need full immersion to carry out baptisms.

The judge also raised concerns about the huge increase in water consumption that would result from using the pool. He said: “If doctrine and the law had been on the side of the petitioners, the court might well have felt nevertheless that its discretion should not be exercised in such a way as to endorse needless waste of water.”

Mr Ockelton said each use of the proposed baptistery could consume “thousands of times more” water than a baptism using the church's existing font. He added that it could require as much as ten times the amount of water used for a domestic bath, with the contents subsequently drained away.

FULL ARTICLE AT: https://www.gbnews.com/news/nottinghamshire-church-refused-baptism-pool-judge-neddless-waste-water