Editing Confirmation (section)

=== Secular confirmations ===
{{main|Secular coming-of-age ceremony}}
Several secular, mainly [[secular humanism|Humanist]], organizations direct [[civil confirmation]]s for older children, as a statement of their [[life stance]] that is an alternative to traditional religious ceremonies for children of that age.

Some [[atheist state|atheist regimes]] have as a matter of policy fostered the replacement of Christian rituals such as confirmation with non-religious ones. In the historically Protestant [[German Democratic Republic]] (East Germany), for example, "the {{lang|de|[[Jugendweihe]]}} (youth dedication) gradually supplanted the Christian practice of Confirmation."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Germany – Religion |url=http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-4909.html |access-date=11 May 2023 |website=www.country-data.com |archive-date=25 March 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070325114341/http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-4909.html |url-status=live }}</ref> A concept that first appeared in 1852, the {{Lang|de|Jugendweihe}} is described as "a solemn initiation marking the transition from youth to adulthood that was developed in opposition to Protestant and Catholic Churches' Confirmation."{{CN|date=May 2023}}