LDS still proxy baptizing non-Mormons?

[zakur]

Looks like an older thread on Mormon proxy baptism is gone, so here's another one with a new story on the practice:

Russian Orthodox say LDS buys souls' names

Not even a year after The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints again promised to stop baptizing dead Jews into its faith, the church has raised concerns by funding the preservation — at 10 cents a sheet — of thousands of names of dead Russian Orthodox Church members.

The church flatly rejects allegations that it is buying the names of dead souls, and insists the effort in Russia is aimed only at providing an archive of genealogical data for the good of all mankind.

Others say the church is continuing its oft-criticized ritual of posthumously baptizing the dead as Mormons — a practice that critics say is rife with ethical and moral holes.

[...]

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has long collected names from government documents and other records worldwide. The names are then used in temple ordinances, one of which involves church members being baptized by proxy to offer the dead salvation and entry to the LDS religion.

It's primarily intended to offer salvation to the ancestors of church members, but many others are included.

The practice "does not force a change of religion on any deceased person," said Dale Bills, a spokesman for the Utah-based church that has more than 11 million members worldwide. "Proxy baptism is a caring expression of faith that provides deceased persons the opportunity to accept or reject what we believe to be a blessing offered in their behalf."

Wacky.

 

[Charlie in Dayton]

I wonder what the LDS leadership would say if we got the names of a couple dozen of their founders and 'baptized' them into...say...The Church of The Sub-Genius?

 

[c4ts]

The Mormons are like vultures. They've already claimed just about every famous dead person except Hitler.

 

[Peter Jenkins]

I was involved with the morg genealogical program for a while (at a local level) and you can be pretty sure that this issue is going to come up time and time again.
The church may make a few conciliatory noises but, this is a religious crusade - to save the whole world, posthumously - and it is not going to make any impact on the church hierarchy or the genealogical program as a whole.
Basically the church doesnt give a damn - you will be assimilated, even if we have to wait until you're dead, to do it.
P

 

[Michael Redman]

Who cares? If you don't believe what they believe, you don't belive it has any effect. If you do believe, you want them to do it. So, what's the harm?

Divine intervention is oftem prayed for on behalf of other parties. I don't see non-Catholics getting pissed off when the Pope prays for them to have peace.

 

[Peter Jenkins]

It's a little more than that.
Imagine a Satanist undertaker secretly tattooing '666' on all the bodies that he handled.
In the minds of (mainstream) Christians, the Morms are seen as (almost) as bad as Satanists. Other Religions see them as pretty bad, too
I can now see how (to an Orthodox Jew, for example) a Mormon proxy baptism may seem like desecrating a grave.
Peter

 

[Andonyx]

Who cares? If you don't believe what they believe, you don't belive it has any effect. If you do believe, you want them to do it. So, what's the harm?

Divine intervention is oftem prayed for on behalf of other parties. I don't see non-Catholics getting pissed off when the Pope prays for them to have peace.

I agree as far as I personally am concerned. When I'm dead, I'm a wormfeast so it makes no difference to me whatsoever.

But for say a practicing Muslim this is tantamount to spiritual Murder.

If you can be banished form heaven for physical content with pigs imagine what this sort of ridiculousness would do. And again, even believing what I do about the afterlife, It's not about the actual deceased it's about the peace and comfort of that person's relatives and loved ones.

I would think this is extremely hurtful to the religious surviving relatives of a dead person.

On a different note, I thought Mormons believed in that 144,000 names in scribed in the book of life deal. Doesn't that mean that for each person posthumously baptized they're potentially screwing osmeone else out of a spot on the list?

Or am I confusing that with a different religion?

 

[Vorticity]

On a different note, I thought Mormons believed in that 144,000 names in scribed in the book of life deal. Doesn't that mean that for each person posthumously baptized they're potentially screwing osmeone else out of a spot on the list?

Or am I confusing that with a different religion?

That's the Jehovah's Witnesses.

 

[Michael Redman]

It's a little more than that.
Imagine a Satanist undertaker secretly tattooing '666' on all the bodies that he handled.
In the minds of (mainstream) Christians, the Morms are seen as (almost) as bad as Satanists. Other Religions see them as pretty bad, too
I can now see how (to an Orthodox Jew, for example) a Mormon proxy baptism may seem like desecrating a grave.
Peter

By proxy! It isn't like tatooing a corpse, it's like tatooing yourself in the corpse's name! Who cares? Sure, it's insulting to tell someone that you think they're lost, but you already know they think that, and you think that about them, too.

How could Mulsims possibly believe that this could harm their soul. If souls were so easy to harm, there would be no hope of ever going to heaven. Anyone who got mad at you could just say a little prayer, and you're going to hell? I find it hard to believe that any serious religious scholar would claim such a thing.

 

[Andonyx]

How could Mulsims possibly believe that this could harm their soul. If souls were so easy to harm, there would be no hope of ever going to heaven. Anyone who got mad at you could just say a little prayer, and you're going to hell? I find it hard to believe that any serious religious scholar would claim such a thing.

Logically you're absolutely right. But these are people worried about religious branding and going to heaven or hell in the first place. Logic has already gone right out the window.

Oh and thanks for clearing up my mis-understanding, Vort.