What kind of fuckery is this?

[mountain_hiker]

I actually didn't know they did this. If I found out that these proxy baptisms happened to someone I loved in life, I'd be righteously pissed. Think this will be trouble for Romney in Florida -- which has a high Jewish population?

Mormon Church's Prior Baptism Of Dead Jews Could Raise Concerns For Florida Voters Mitt Romney's problem with

Comments

[mercaque]

"[Baptizing] reminds us of the persecution Jews had in the past where churches told Jews they had a choice: either convert to Christianity or be murdered."

Wald, whose grandparents died in the Holocaust, said, "Jews are understandably angered when another religious faith denies the legitimacy of Judaism by attempting conversion - and that is precisely what these retroactive baptisms do."

I'm not Jewish, but is it REALLY THAT DAMN DIFFICULT to see why posthumous, non-consenting baptism might be a big deal to some who are?

SMH at some of the comments we're already racking up in this post.

[mirhanda]

THIS!

[chimbleysweep]

This has always creeped me out. It's so disrespectful. I've never even been a believer of any sort but I just think you should not fuck with the dead and the beliefs they had. Those mattered to them. They're meant to be real, after all. Something that might genuinely happen. Something that is genuinely true.

It keeps me from going to the genealogy sites that LDS runs, too. They know more about my family than I do.

[arisma]

They're meant to be real, after all. Something that might genuinely happen. Something that is genuinely true.

Yeah, this is what I keep getting stuck on. To me it's all hooey but to the people doing it and, I'd imagine, the vast majority of people they're doing it to it's a very real and intimate thing.

[wldrose]

Its not just that they do a little dance and sprinkle some water, its that the idea behind it is making these people servants in the after life.

[lesson_in_love]

the deceased have "the right to choose"

[arisma]

How is this acceptable? That's just severely disrespectful. I'm an atheist and all but it's my understanding that one of the times religion/faith provides the greatest comfort is during death/loss. Doing this with the true belief that it does something metaphysical to these peoples souls is stunningly disgusting. I'd imagine to those with faith this would be much, much worse than grave desecration and I think it's universal that doing that's fucked up. In the same perspective knowing such a thing was done to your relative/loved ones would also be incredibly distressing.

I can't believe people are legit defending this.