The Church of England has been accused of “dumbing down” Christian teaching by removing the requirement to repent sins and reject the devil in an alternative baptism service.

Michael Nazir-Ali, the former Bishop of Rochester, said “crucial areas of teaching” should not be eliminated.

The Church said priests would be able to choose whether to use the new wording or keep the existing service.

A trial is running at over 400 churches until April.

In the existing version of the service, parents and godparents are asked: “Do you reject the devil and all rebellion against God?” and “Do you repent of the sins that separate us from God and neighbour?”

In the new alternative version they are instead asked to “reject evil and all its many forms and all its empty promises”.

Writing in the Mail on Sunday, Dr Nazir-Ali said: “Since at least the 1970s there has been a fashion in the Church of England to minimise depth and mystery in its worship because of the alleged need to make its services ‘accessible’.

“Instead of explaining what baptism means and what the various parts of the service signify, its solution is to do away with key elements of the service altogether!”

He continued: “Because of its anxiety to make everyone feel welcome and its desire not to offend anyone, the new service, almost entirely, does away with sin and the need to repent from its personal and social manifestations and consequences.

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The Muslim Times’ Editor’s comment:

I guess, the Church seems to have little choice.

Perhaps, Michael Nazir-Ali can explain to us, how can Original Sin exist, if Adam and Eve were not the first human couple, as the theory of evolution has shown us?