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There are several possibilities as to why a baptism may be requried, we should start however with the most rational, and that is that the reporter just plain got the story wrong and no such thing will happen.

Anglicans are not all in any kind of agreement. The Anglican Church traditionally is split between three main factions. Low Church Anglicans would make a Baptist blush, they are the party that gave us the Puritans, no joy in mudville there. They deny the sacramental effects of Baptism, they call Baptism and Holy Communion Ordinances, and only recognize the two, they are the ones who when in power enacted laws in England that made it a crime to practice the Catholic Faith, they had a network of spies to look for anyone who harbored priests, and would give the priest twenty four hours to renounce the Christian Faith and become Protestant or be hanged in the public square, (not a quick drop and jerk, but a strangulation, and while still alive be drawn and quartered, (cut into four pieces) while horses pulled their bodies apart. These same Puritains also had King Charles convicted of being too Catholic, and lopped off his head, even though he was a Protestant. Funny that they had no problem with King James I, (of the King James Bible fame) who had a number of male lovers and paraded them in and out of the Royal court. Then there is the Broad Church, they allowed their ministers to wear a cassock, surplus and stole, kneel at the north end (left hand side) of the Communion Table, (after the Puritains had painted over any paintings of Jesus, the Saints, angels etc and demolished the altars, statues, altar rails and anything else that looked too Catholic. The Broad Church Anglicans admitted to two Sacraments, denied the real presence except in the heart of the communicant, and called their ministers, deacons, priests and bishops, but denied the sacrificial nature of the Communion Service, which was not allowed unless there where at least four or five people to recieve communion, and usually occured only three or four times a year. Then there is the High Church, these people where a development of the late 19th Century, it was now legal again for Catholics to have masses, and there was an interest among a minority of Anglicans to re-introduce Catholic style worship and devotions. The first Anglican ministers who dared put candles and a cross on the communion table, (not even a crucifix yet) or attempted to wear vestments, even while using the Protestant communion rites where put into jail and Parlament enacted laws to bar them from using vestments. The movement grew and some High Church Anglicans, (calling themselves Anglo-Catholics) developed rites either similar to the Rites before the Puritans and the destruction of Catholic Worhsip in England (Sarum Use) or simply copied the Traditional Latin Ritual in English. (Some Anglo-Catholic parishes even had masses in Latin) So much for a very abbreviated Anglican History lession, not at all comprehensive.

In the 1950s and 60s there where some Anglicans, including Bishop Pike in the Episcopal Church in the USA who started changing things around. Bishop Pike was fond of baptisms that used formulae like, “I baptize you in the name of the Creator, and the Redeemer and the Consoler.” At the very least questionable, and requring another, (conditional) baptism even by many Anglicans, or baptisms using “I baptize you into the Church”, or “in the name of Jesus” If an investigation into the rites used on Blair revealed that one of these rites was used, he may either have to be conditionally baptized or absolutly baptized. There is also the possiblity as many Anglicans never bothered to baptize their children in England around the time Blair was an infant, either because they where not regular Church goers, or because they where Low Church and did not believe in infant baptism.

It is because of all of these possiblities that people converting to the Catholic Church have an investigation into if and how they where baptized. (Some Churches use Rose Water, or flower petals, which are also deemed to be invalid matter for the sacrament, one Eastern European group was chastized by an Orthodox bishop because they where using Beer.)