Mormon Proxy Baptism Was Performed On Mahatma Gandhi, Researcher Says

[the_gabih]

Mahatma Gandhi, who employed nonviolent civil disobedience to lead India to independence after more than a century of British rule, was posthumously baptized by proxy by a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, according to information provided to The Huffington Post.

Helen Radkey, a former Mormon who has until now has focused on

Comments

[13chapters]

I look forward to Stephen Colbert turning all the dead Mormons into dead Hindus now.

Seriously, they need to knock this shit off.

[doverz]

I loved that segment.

[tilmon]

Of all the things that Mormons do, baptizing dead people is the least annoying. Aren't they the only ones who think it makes any difference? Though I never understood, if you can baptize people into your religion after they are dead, why annoy them with missionaries while they are alive?

[the_gabih]

They are the only ones, yes, but it's still really fucking insulting to have someone say 'oh no this major part of your identity is null and void we get to choose it for you lulz'. Apparently they don't seem to get that the majority of people who died non-Mormons didn't get a Mormon baptism because they didn't fucking want one.

[ceilidh]

Apparently they don't seem to get that the majority of people who died non-Mormons didn't get a Mormon baptism because they didn't fucking want one.

THIS.

[star_maple]

From what I gather, you get into a better heaven if you're baptized when you're alive. If you convert after you've died then you're stuck in a second tier heaven. So that's why they do both.

[jamethiel_bane]

This is so damn offensive. It's--people's faith (or lack of it) is a deeply, inherently personal thing and to get some random arsehole thinking that they know better and their wishes override the wishes of the person in life is just absolutely wrong.

[doverz]

'And as the church points out: "There is nothing in Mormonism that states that the person who is being baptized by proxy must accept this ordinance; he or she is simply given the opportunity to choose."'

This makes no sense to me. The person is fucking dead and it seems like they have been dead for a while. Wouldn't the person already have been standing in front of God and deemed a non-believer?? So, wouldn't they already be in Hell by now??

So fucking offensive to other religions. I bet we'll be hearing about Mormons baptizing dead Muslims. Wouldn't be surprised to learn they proxy baptized the prophet Mohammad.

[quizzicalsphinx]

I've always been curious about how it's supposed to work on a metaphysical level. Here you are, hanging out, dead, suffused with wonder at the Peace That Surpasseth All Understanding or enjoying a moment of contemplation between incarnations or whatever the afterlife happens to be, and then . . . what? Jesus and/or Joseph Smith turn up like the Publishers Clearing House Prize Patrol? Are you at that point still able to say "no thank you, quite enjoying the company of my ancestors, tbh" or can they like, grab you by your incorporeal ear and drag you off to Mormon Heaven?

[erunamiryene]

According to doctrine, you're chilling out in the ... Telestial Kingdom, and you're offered the chance to accept the ordinance performed on your behalf, at which point you can move up to the Celestial kingdom.

[erunamiryene]

The thing that hasn't really been mentioned is that Mormons aren't really down with the whole Heaven/Hell thing. There's the Celestial Kingdom (just for mormons), the Terrestrial Kingdom, the Telestial Kingdom, and Outer Darkness (the closest Mormons get to hell, and also just for Mormons, IIRC). So non-Mormons end up in either of the other two, and if someone performs the baptism by proxy for that person, that person (in the afterlife) then has the choice to accept it or not. Mormon doctrine states that you're the person you are now in the afterlife.

[ducttapeninja]

Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Weisel, who is still alive, also was targeted for "posthumous" baptism

So, wait, people are actually sitting around waiting for important people to die so they can do this posthumous baptism thing? The first image to come to my head about that was a flock of vultures.

Also, for discussion: Someone decided to respond to the Posthumous Baptism thing by making a site for postuhumously gay-marrying dead Mormons.