The initiative was launched by a group called the National Secular Society (NSS) and follows atheist campaigns in the area that included the highly controversial London bus poster that proclaimed "There's probably no God."

"We now produce a certificate on parchment and we have sold 1,500 units at three pounds (4.35 dollars, 3.20 euros) a pop," said NSS president Terry Sanderson, 58.

58-year-old John Hunt of London was one of the first to be "de-baptised"  because he was too young to make any decision when he was christened at five months old.

The male nurse said he approached the Church of England to ask it to remove his name. "They said they had sought legal advice and that I should place an announcement in the London Gazette," said Hunt, referring to one of the official journals of record of the British government.

And he did just that. In May 2008, his notice of renouncement was published in the Gazette and other Britons have followed suit.

Michael Evans called baptising children as "a form of child abuse."  He also said that when he complained to the church where he was christened he was told to contact the European Court of Human Rights.

The Church of England said its official position was not to amend its records. "Renouncing baptism is a matter between the individual and God," a Church spokesman told AFP.

"We are not a 'membership' church, and do not keep a running total of the number of baptised people in the Church of England, and such totals do not feature in the statistics that we regularly publish," he added.

The de-baptism organizers say their initiative is a response to what they see as increasing stridency from churches. The latest exodus took place last week when Pope Benedict XVI stirred global controversy on a trip to AIDS-ravaged Africa by saying condom use could further spread the disease.

"The Catholic Church is so politically active at the moment that I think that is where the hostility is coming from," said Sanderson. "In Catholic countries there is a very strong feeling of wanting to punish the church by leaving it."

In Great Britain, where government estimates say nearly 72 percent of the population call themselves Christian, Sanderson feels this "hostility" is fueling the de-baptism movement.

De-baptism movements have appeared in other countries as well.

In Spain, the high court ruled in favor of a Manuel Blat from Valencia, saying that under data protection laws he could have the record of his baptism erased.

In 2002, the Italian Union of Rationalists and Agnostics (UAAR) won a legal battle over the right to file for de-baptism, according to media reports. The group's website also carries a "de-baptism" form. More than 60,000 of these forms have been downloaded in the past four years and continue to be downloaded at a rate of about 2,000 per month, according to UAAR secretary Raffaele Carcano. 1,000 were downloaded in just one day when the group held its first “national de-baptism day” last October 25th.

The bus posters that hit London in January fetured the message: "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life."

The advertisement was in response to advertisements on buses that directed passers-by to a website warning those who did not accept Jesus would suffer for eternity in hell.

Mastermind behind the British bus campaign, Comedy writer Ariane Sherine, said she supports the "de-baptism" movement but insisted the two initiatives were separate.

Sanderson meanwhile remains resolute. "The fact that people are willing to pay for the parchments shows how seriously they are taking them," he said.

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