Mittens: I’ve performed ‘posthumous Mormon baptisms’…but not recently

[xchrom]

http://pamshouseblend.firedoglake.com/2012/01/26/mittens-ive-performed-posthumous-mormon-baptisms-but-not-recently/

‘I have in my life, but I haven’t recently.’

–Mitt Romney to Newsweek magazine when asked if he personally had performed ‘posthumous baptisms’ on anyone.

Man, when the sh*t hits the fan, GOP Clown Car occupant Mittens is right there in the path of flying feces. He has studiously avoided speaking about his Mormon faith lest he bring on the wrath of the evangelicals (as we saw in SC, avoidance didn’t quell fundie suspicions about him), but the circus elephant is still in the room.

It’s in the news because now that the Florida primary is next — and it is a state that is home to a significant Jewish population; I don’t see how this story at Huffington Post is going to help Romney, since he’s on the record as a devout Mormon — and he admits that he has performed posthumous baptisms as part of his faith.

The religious rite is proxy baptism for the dead. According to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or Mormon Church, these posthumous “blessings” are intended to “save” ancestors and others who weren’t baptized in life or were baptized “without proper authority.”

…In 2007, when Romney made his first run for the Republican nomination, NECN in Hartford, Conn., asked him about baptizing the dead. He said he is “not a cafeteria Mormon” and adheres to all tenets of his faith. But Romney, a former bishop and top church official in Boston, referred specific questions to religious leaders.

When Newsweek magazine asked Romney if he personally had performed posthumous baptisms on anyone, author Jonathan Darman wrote, “he looked slightly startled and answered, ‘I have in my life, but I haven’t recently.’ The awareness of how odd this will sound to many Americans is what makes Romney hesitant to elaborate on the Mormon question.”

There was no mention, and it is not known, whether the people that Romney personally baptized were Jewish.

Requests for comment by Romney campaign and the Mormon Church were not answered.

Complicating matters is that the practice has been the focus of negotiations between Mormon and Jewish leaders to stop the posthumous baptism of all Jews for some time, leading to an agreement in 1995. The problem is that the baptisms/Mormon conversions continued.

[MidwestTransplant]

1. If Mittens posthumously Babtized Holocaust dead, I promise it won't do much for him

with Evangelicals and Jews. Florida would be out of play in the General Election.

[lumberjack_jeff]

2. "WTF? Where am I? I was perfectly happy with the heaven I was in!" n/t

[Brickbat]

3. Whether they're Jewish or not, this will piss off a lot of people.

[immoderate]

4. Paticularly, dead ones.

--imm

[Journeyman]

5. "Joseph Smith was called a prophet, dum dum dum dum dum". . .

Southpark, "All About Mormons"

http://www.southparkstudios.com/full-episodes/s07e12-all-about-mormons

[WCGreen]

7. I guess if you have tons of money, are white and conservative, you can pretty much get away with

anything if you sprinkle in just enough Jesus between the Old Testament and Revelation

[Angry Dragon]

6. CULT

In my opinion

[Arugula Latte]

10. Just like all organized religion.

They're all cults.

[Shadowflash]

12. Heh. Yup.

[WI_DEM]

8. I doubt this is going to be a huge deal.

[MattBaggins]

9. Actually Jewish people and Fundy Christians

are quite angry about this practice.

The question though is were they considering voting for him?

[Muskypundit]

11. As a jew, I despise the moron church.

It's sacrilege and insulting for them to baptise my people when they have no choice. They have no respect for anything, and while maybe I feel like I might be being discriminatory, it was also the Mormon church that officially hated blacks until the 80's I believe. It's only unofficial hate now.

[snagglepuss]

13. Bwahahaha GOP is the "circus elephant".

[kestrel91316]

14. I betcha anything he has posthumously baptized some Jews.

It was ALL the rage among TBMs for a long time.