Mormon church apologizes for posthumous baptism of Jews

[NNN0LHI]

http://news.yahoo.com/mormon-church-apologizes-posthumous-baptism-jews-010842742.html

By Mary Slosson | Reuters – 7 hrs ago

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Mormon church apologized on Tuesday for the posthumous baptism by its members of the parents of famed Nazi hunter and Holocaust survivor Simon Wiesenthal.

The posthumous baptisms were performed in Mormon churches in Utah, Arizona, and Idaho, according to the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish human rights organization named after the man who hunted down more than 1,000 Nazi war criminals including Adolf Eichmann in the years following the Holocaust.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, in its written apology, suggested that the action was the work of one member who they said has since been disciplined.

"We sincerely regret that the actions of an individual member of the Church led to the inappropriate submission of these names," Michael Purdy, a spokesman for the Church, said in a statement e-mailed to Reuters.

[Bonobo]

1. Does that mean they apologize for all the others they have done too?

Do they condemn the practice now? I doubt it somehow...

If someone tried that on my mom's grave, I would get mighty pissed.

[Syrinx]

2. What about ex-Welsh Congregationalists?

That's what Ann Romney's father was, when they baptized him, after death. (How does that work, anyway?)

[MADem]

3. So, the first time they said they wouldn't do this, they didn't mean it?

And hey, blame it on "THAT GUY!" It's always some rogue asshole at work to bring them down! Amazing how a "rogue asshole" has access to their "temple" databases and can slam dead people in them, willy-nilly! Amazing how this "one guy" could be so busy in three separate states! What a busy beaver!

The whole business is foolish (baptizing dead people? They didn't dig them up, after all), but it is a cultural insult. It shows a degree of tone-deafness to the concerns of others that explains a lot about how Mittsy just does not "get" it.

[CreekDog]

4. i thought they had to baptize all the dead people or else the Milennium won't come

they dont have to baptize all the live ones, as long as the live ones have said yes or no to it.

i'm not Mormon but I know Mormon stuff thanks to a school I went too (eeek). Anyway, based on my understanding of the theology, I never understood how they could get around not trying to baptize everyone, even long dead Jewish people (as offensive as that is). They managed to survive losing polygamy by confining it to the highest kingdom of heaven (hey, give me a break, I don't write this stuff!) while prohibiting it on earth.

[MADem]

6. Really? My head hurts!

They'll have to make up a "New Rule" to get around this, I guess--maybe do it in secret, like they do some of their other stuff!

[SmileyRose]

12. This is about the 4th "sorry" issued by the Mormon church I can remember

Obviously they lied the previous 3 times.

[sakabatou]

5. Now in meme form...

[ellisonz]

7. Hehehehe...

[cliffordu]

8. Really? How do you revoke a baptism??

I wanna be part of that ceremony....

[Lunacee2012]

11. I got this off another thread

about the same subject.

&feature=player_embedded#t=0s


You can thank Yavapai for this.

[mainer]

9. As an atheist, I don't really see why it gets people upset

If someone baptized me or my parents without our consent, it's like some random stranger saying nonsense words and muttering our names. It's all nonsense anyway.

[eShirl]

13. It might be upsetting to non-athiest, non-Mormon living relatives of the baptizee.

I could see that.

[Nye Bevan]

10. Well, are they going to de-baptize these folks?

Clearly they should be converted back to Jewish.