More Posthumous Baptism of Jews?

By John Yewell, 4-08-05

A decade-long controversy has flared again. The Associated Press reports that Ernest Michel, chairman of the New York-based World Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors, is accusing the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints of continuing to posthumously baptize Jews.

In 1995 Michel brokered an agreement with the LDS Church to end the practice, reaffirming the pact in 2002. Now Michel say the church has gone back on its word. "We have proof, and we are bringing that," he says. He plans to meet Sunday and Monday with church leaders.

Mormons believe that the dead remain capable of choosing a religion in the afterlife, and that baptism is a way to welcome them to the LDS faith if they so choose. Some 20,000 Jews, many victims of the Holocaust, are also said to have undergone the ritual, in which a member of the LDS faith stands in for the baptized person.

The church has performed such baptism for thousands, not just Jews. Among them are Ghengis Khan, Joan of Arc, Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin, Buddha, Theodore Herzl, David Ben Gurion, Moshe Dayan and Anne Frank.

The LDS church considers itself to have a special relationship with the Jews. Mormons believe their origins are found in a lost tribe of Israelites that came to America and was later preached to by the resurrected Christ.

But the practice of posthumous baptism is deeply offensive to Jews, who believed the issue was laid to rest ten years ago. A deep sense of betrayal would be expected if the practice has continued in secret. [End of article]