Mormons: Explaining posthumous baptism

Did you know that Humphrey Bogart, Elvis Presley, Anne Frank, and Joan of Arc are all Mormons? said Jason Horowitz in The Washington Post. They might not have been in life, but they are among the hundreds of millions of people baptized posthumously by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Mormons believe that their “proxy” baptisms offer deceased non-Mormons “a second shot at salvation.” In 1995, the church agreed to baptize only ancestors of Mormons, after being caught secretly making Mormons of thousands of Holocaust victims. But last week it was revealed that some individual Mormons were at it again, belatedly baptizing the parents of Nazi-hunter Simon Wiesenthal and author Elie Wiesel. Jewish groups want presidential candidate Mitt Romney to speak out against this “ghoulish” ritual, said Martin Peretz in TheNewRepublic.com. Romney—who has said that he’d performed retroactive baptisms himself—should assure Jews he’ll protect their ancestors from his fellow Mormons’ “salvationist impulses.”

Who cares what Mormons are doing in the privacy of their temples? said Anshel Pfeffer in the Tel Aviv Ha’aretz. All monotheistic religions believe they hold the only key to salvation, and it poses no threat to any faithful Jews that a “group of goyim” now thinks their ancestors are Mormons. As a Mormon, I can assure you that we perform these proxy baptisms respectfully, said Michael Otterson in The Washington Post, and the dead “have the choice to accept or reject the gesture.” When I performed a proxy baptism for my Christian father, I wasn’t trying to erase his beliefs but to offer him eternal life. “It is because we value and respect every life and its eternal potential that we do what we do.”

Still, the baptism issue poses a problem for Romney, said Naomi Decter in CommentaryMagazine.com. Sooner or later, he’ll have to address why his church has baptized “dead people who had no desire to be Mormons,” which not only Jews will find offensive. Romney is hardly responsible for everything Mormons do, said Michael Walsh in NationalReview.com. But if he wins the nomination, Obama’s minions in the media will “pound Mitt into the dirt with Joseph Smith’s golden plates.” Romney will be asked to defend every practice of the LDS church—all in the aim of making him seem “weird.” Team Romney better be ready, because his religion will definitely not be off the table.

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