Posted 4/10/2004 12:29:00 PM by Douglas

The Mormons are at it again, or should I say, still at it. Posthumously baptizing people that didn't see the divine enlightenment of being a Mormon when they were alive.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has long collected names from government documents and other records worldwide for posthumous baptisms. Church members stand in to be baptized in the names of the deceased non-Mormons, a ritual the church says is required for them to reach heaven.

The practice is primarily intended to give salvation to the ancestors of Mormons, but many others are included, since the church believes that individuals' ability to choose a religion continues beyond the grave. Non-Mormon faiths have objected to the baptisms.

I think that if the Jews that are getting ticked off about this gave a tenth of the credibility to Mormonism as they do to Judaism, they'd become Mormons themselves. Just because one of your cousins becomes Mormon and baptizes your grandpa, that doesn't make him a Mormon, does it? It certainly doesn't alter they way he lived his life, or his spiritual relationship. If the Church of LDS really has that kind of divine authority, wouldn't we all be Mormon, eventually?

I just don't see the problem down the line with a group to whom I give no credibility in life determining my existence after I die. They can say that I'm a Hindu woman that was the starting center-fielder for the Boston Red Sox, that doesn't have any impact on how I lived my life.