I have ranted about baptism for the dead a million times. I am going to do it again. You have been warned.
It has been revealed that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has baptized the mother of Barak Obama, the current President of the United States, into the faith even though she lived as a Catholic her entire life and never once expressed interest in the Mormon Church. Did the church have a family member's expressed permission to perform this ceremony? No. Just like holocaust victims of past, the president's mother is now listed in the LDS database.
I am at a loss as to how Mormons don't understand how wrong this is. They want people to understand and respect them for their beliefs, yet they show no respect for others. I don't get why they assume God would require some silly ceremony on earth in order to reach heaven...
Let's pretend that a young man, born a Catholic, lived his life to truly help others. He volunteered his time with the homeless, he donated money to charity, he helped Habitat for Humanity, gave blood regularly, helped with hurricane relief, went from state to state saving animals from being euthanized, and ultimately gave his life saving a young woman drowning in her car.
When he is greeted in heaven, the Mormons believe he will hear something like this:"Son.
Here are a few quotes from people on various news websites voicing their concern for this practice:
This is God.
You were a good kid, I will give you that.
Unfortunately for you, it wasn't good enough. You were not a Mormon. You didn't get baptized into the Mormon faith and therefore you have to wait in limbo until someone else does that for you.
No, I do not know when that will be. Maybe tomorrow, maybe 200 years from now.
You might notice people walking right past you into the pearly gates... you might notice some of these people were total jerks and assholes during their lives... the only answer I have for you is that they were Mormon and paid 10% of everything they had to the LDS Church so they could build temples and shopping malls.
I am sure you understand.
Just remember that your spiritual salvation depends on the paperwork they give me.
Oh, and don't worry that Hitler isn't there anymore. The Mormons baptized him and he's in.
Peace out."
Most of you are missing the whole point of this article. It's about BOUNDARIES, people. Mormons want the respect of the rest of us, but aren't willing to respect others' beliefs, to the extent that they will even "baptize" people who cannot give consent. In fact, to justify their extreme lack of respect for others' beliefs, they even trot out the "if it isn't true, why worry and if it is true, you'll thank us" argument.You just don't get it, do you?
This is the danger of thinking you have "The Truth", whether it be the truth about religion, economics (like the Wall Street Thieves), or politics (like the Neo-Cons who embroiled us in two unwinnable wars). It is arrogance, and it goeth before the fall. -Al ABCNews.com
It is about boundaries. The church has no right to do this, on top of that, it makes no sense whatsoever. Here is another quote I really liked... it begins with a Mormon denying that the baptism even occurred:
THIS IS FALSE, AND ANYONE WITH ANY CONCEPT OF HOW SECURE SITES ON THE INTERNET WORK CAN REALIZE THIS. The Mormons do not have a policy of baptizing those without the consent of some direct linear ancestor. What are you saying is patently false.
Not only that, but had your image from the secure LDS website (which is accessible to anyone who properly registers), it would read https:// in the URL, not just http://. I just logged on, and it is a secured site, and does have the "s".
Your image is nothing more than a doctored up falsity, meant to cause harm to religion you don't like. However, assume it was read. If the Mormons are just a bunch of crazy nut jobs, who cares if they saying the name of anyone as they perform their ordinances? Would you be upset if a Catholic were praying for Obama's mother? -jhoopes AmericaBlog
The reply:
Hello litttle mormon, before telling lies on the internet, you should probably check and see if the LDS church has confirmed this. They did.
Since you probably think that any non-mormon run newspaper is part of some satanic conspiracy, you aer still out of luck, Deseret News printed the story that the LDS church confirmed that this happened as well. If you had any shred of honesty, you would apologize for your lies and false accusations.
But you are mormon, a religion that has been telling lies for 180 years, so I won't hold my breath. Moerover you miss the mark with your praying analogy. This is not like a prayer, Prophet's of the LDS church have decreed that Barack Obama's mother should be put to death for producing a mixed race child, postumously baptising her mormon would be like making Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. an honorary member of the KKK. -LowKey -AmericaBlog
This poor Mormon immediately assumed that he was being persecuted for his faith. He went on the defensive before knowing the facts.
I see that every day.
I also find it amazing that this same religion would have once demanded that Barak Obama be killed because of his mixed race. Here is a quote from Briggy Young:
"Shall I tell you the law of God in regard to the African race? If the white man who belongs to the chosen seed mixes his blood with the seed of Cain, the penalty, under the law of God, is death on the spot. This will always be so." (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, Volume 10, page 110.)
Hmmm... interesting, isn't it?
Mormons, you can't have it both ways. You can't cry and complain that people don't understand or respect you while doing this to people.
It is not okay.
It's not!!!
You don't have permission to do it, and if a loving God truly exists he would laugh at this concept.
Andee
May 6, 2009 at 7:06 PM
If I were Barack Obama's mom and found myself suddenly whooshed up to the Celestial Kingdom inexplicably, I might go try to track down ol' Briggy and give him a piece of my mind.
HA! If I believed in the Mormon version of heaven (or any at all), I would be sure to feel that whoosh after death when my crazy Mormon relatives get around to rebaptizing me.
Does anyone know if happily excommunicated Mormons are likely to be rebaptized after death?
May 7, 2009 at 10:12 AM
I have no idea about necro-baptisms for excommunicated Mormons. That is certainly an interesting thought... and it opens a lot of questions.
I think that the church would probably allow family members of a deceased excommunicated loved one to be baptized, but I am not sure.
Either way, it's still out of line and just plain wrong.
I have always thought baptism for the dead was messed up, and it wasn't until the last couple years that I thought anyone agreed with me.
May 7, 2009 at 2:39 PM
"Would you be upset if a Catholic were praying for Obama's mother? "
Why would anyone be upset by that? Obama's mother was Catholic, so presumably would not be upset that catholics were praying for her. That would be like a LDS person dying as a teenager then someone doing posthumous endowments for them, not at all objectionable or offensive. Baptizing someone for the dead when they were never Mormon and without family permission is a whole different thing. The only way this comment makes sense to me is if this commenter believes Obama is a secret Muslim like a segment of American arch-conservatives seem to. Weirdness.
May 7, 2009 at 5:18 PM
Sabayon,
There is a kind of disconnect in a Mormon's mindset that doesn't allow them to see how blatantly arrogant and offensive this practice is.
They just follow along and do what they are told like good little soldiers.
I wish they would just stop and THINK for a freaking second. Think about it... why in the world would God find it necessary for this to take place? It's so stupid!!
Of course, stopping to think is something they have told NOT to do. After all, the truth isn't very useful, is it?
Blech.
Andee
May 11, 2009 at 10:27 PM
I couldn't even finish reading your post because it hits home too much for me right now, if I continued to read it would send me into a tornado of fury because I so whole heartedly.
My grandfather died on April 18th, and I even called a friend who is about to serve a mission to make sure that the church couldn't just pull his name out of an obituary and baptize him. This friend told me they could not without expressed consent from an immediate family member. This news infuriates me.
The church really needs to watch who they are messing with. There are a lot of people out there in the world that are a fountain of information and knowledge of legal rights and I am soooo not afraid to utilize that information and those rights if they were to EVER overstep those boundaries in regards to my grandfather, or anyone in my family for that matter.
May 12, 2009 at 9:43 AM
Jackalyn,
I am so sorry that you lost your grandfather.
*hugs*
I always wish I could help people when they lose loved ones, but there are no magic words to make people feel better. I am just truly sorry.
The church does *claim* that you have to have the consent of a family member before they baptize them after death. However, it is clear that they do not follow the procedure in instances like baptizing Holocaust victims and in the case of Barak Obama's mother. I am sure there are literally millions of other names they have baptized without expressed permission. There is no proof, because they make that information harder to get a hold of, but those of us who have spent so much time in the church know better.
It sucks that you have to worry about a "church" changing the religion of your family member. I mean... why would God want it this way?
They members have no idea how arrogant and insulting baptism for the dead is. They are convinced they are doing the right thing.
If you ever find out that your grandfather or anyone else in your family has been baptized in this manner, PLEASE do what you can to undo it. Not only that, but go to the press and make sure there is a little public outrage over it.
They won't stop doing things like this unless they get public pressure to do it.
My thoughts are with you,
Andee
May 14, 2009 at 5:03 PM
It's really none of your business if your great grandma wants to join up with the Mormons in the afterlife.
Sorry.
May 14, 2009 at 6:16 PM
Seth,
Please check my new post. I will reply there.
Andee
May 20, 2009 at 12:09 AM
Hi.
Uhm I don't know if you guys know this.. but baptisms for the dead is in the bible. Look at 1 Corinthians 15:29.
In the afterlife I'm pretty sure it's not a whole bunch of religions. There aren't the Catholics over here and the Mormons over there. You must be watching too much of South Park.
May 20, 2009 at 9:44 AM
I don't believe any of this... But if you are interested in a different reading of the Corinthians passage that Steph sited, check out this link:
http://bibletools.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/Bible.show/sVerseID/28748/eVerseID/28748
The writer basically says that this verse is misread as Steph is using it.