Declining Godparent's Role

First, when you select a person or people as godparents, you should do it because you believe that person or people will do the best job raising your child in the event something happens to the birth parents. If you decline, I certainly don't think it to be rude. Its personal preference, I would much rather my parents or my husbands parents or even our siblings look after our children if something were to happen to us.

it is indeed rude if one declines straight-faced the invitation to be a godparent. it also carries a blessing if accepted, and an omen if declined. this is according to stories. i have been a godparent once to a relative. so far, i am not that close to him because we live apart. however, if there's a chance to talk, we talk to update each other.

I think it's good that people are taking the time to think about what the role of a Godparent actually involves, because there are so many people these days who will just accept the role without really thinking about it and then finding that they don't know what they're really supposed to be doing in the child's life at all. I have two Godparents, and I haven't seen any of them for a long time now. One of them lives a while away from me, and this has meant that I don't have the time to visit her, but the other one has no excuse; she just doesn't seem to be all that bothered about my brother and I anymore, which is up to her of course, but is still rather sad all the same.