I look at this as the same as the Jewish declaration of “Righteous Persons” (or sometimes Righteous Gentiles).

Would you be upset to be among the list of people such as Raoul Wallenberg or Oskar Schindler?

While I'm athiestic, I don't mind the religion in the public square. I object to religion in government, vociferously.

I have no problem volunteering in a non-secular shelter or soup kitchen, provided they don't require adherence to a belief for providing services.

If the non-secular charity wants adherents to get that charity given to the recipient, that is the choice of that charity. But I won't support them and that is there choice.

For the uninitiated:
Secular: Free from religion. (Goodwill, Wheelchair Foundation, UNICEF)

Non-secular: a religious based organization (Catholic Charities, Salvation Army, YM/WCA).

Amy,

Despite your advice for Anthelios sunblock I have decided from now on to tan daily and become extremely dark. I don't care if I become a wrinkled catchers mitt in my 30's. I'm doing this to remind every Mormon that according to their texts God cursed my ancestors by giving them dark skin. Apparently God didn't realize tanning would become trendy 200 years later. Go figure.

And aren't they the ones that say every Mormon man when he dies becomes God and a ruler of a new planet? Am I getting the right religion here?

FUCK YOU MORMONS. You have no right to convert people whose brains turned to worm food. FUCK OFF.

As long as the Mormons are posthumously baptizing people not of their religion, I shall mock them about their magic undergarments.

Sighhhhh. Eye roll.

I agree that baptizing people for the dead is a bit strange. It is more of comfort for members who feel that ancestors who could not hear the gospel could be baptized and allowed into the Celestial Kingdom.

Still I think some sort of standard should be set in. I think it should be for somebody a person is related to genealogically. I think what is happening is some people are just pulling names of people they feel should be honored or saved in a sense. Maybe the names where not checked or verified. I am not sure of the process, but maybe the church hierarchy should ask people who submit to give a connect and valid reason.

I really do not want to get into the Mormon theology but this is just one of those strange things in any religion. As with the misunderstanding about planets and godhood. Fuck... still too complicated to get into and why bore you fellow readers.

I mean could you not take offense with reincarnation? I mean what if some Buddhist says he is the reincarnation of my relative and uses that for some purpose like fame. I would be annoyed. Or if some Wiccan decides to curse me or my family. I bet Elvis family and heck the Jackson family will be peeved in a a few years when some white guy starts saying he is the reincarnation of Micheal....

If you are an atheist just think of this as mumbo jumbo and magic finger waving. Harmless and in a way really fucking silly.

Also this topic has been discussed before here on Amy's if I am correct. I am suspicious of this. Over the last week or two I have seen a resurgence of this topic in the Media. It looks like dirt digging and mud slinging of a sensitive topic to tar somebody else. I wonder what important Mormon is in the news lately. Which Mormon topic will it be next - Polygamy, Word of Wisdom, Church History and blacks, Missionaries.

I would put this akin to digging up old Pastor Wright 'sermons to tar Obama as radical who wants to "Damn America".

Also fuck make fun of the Mormons for their funny underwear - it is silly looking. But remember to be an equal opportunity bigot. Jews and their little beanies. Or the orthodox Jews wih some of there bumpy foreheads for wearing a box on the head. Muslims for the constant praying in one direction and silly bathing rituals from spitting and turning... what ever. Natives and their crazy dancing and singing to animals in the sky. Catholics and the thousand different saints for car wrecks to thieves. The silliness goes on. Get over it.

It is my understanding that according to Mormon doctrine, the dead person's soul can refuse the baptism. (Though according to Mormon doctrine, they won't want to.)

Personally, I'd like it if all religions had this clause, and they all baptized me after I was dead. You know, just so I could cover my bases!

They try to baptize everyone.

If you don't believe in their religion, then this has no material effect on you. If someone holds a secret ceremony in their basement and marries me to the Easter Bunny, so what? It doesn't count. It doesn't unsubscribe me from my actual marriage. No one else thinks it's real.

Should we condemn the Mormons for trying to look out for non-believers in a non-invasive way? What other religion has your back, even if you've done nothing for them?

Mormons baptize and marry people in absentia all the time. The Mormons believe that a man who does not have at least two wives cannot become a god himself at the end of time. So they baptize and "seal" women to men without their consent, or even their knowledge.
Just imagine, you're dead, the end of the world comes, and some guy you've never met calls you out the ground and says "You are my wife! Submit to my heavenly schlong and bear my heavenly babies!" Sounds like fun, huh?
They're baptizing dead men because the unmarried men in Mormon belief get to spend the rest of their lives as servants to the good Mormon men who got to become gods over their own planets.

I'm with the last two commenters: Either it's a meaningless ritual, in which case the postmortem baptisms do no harm (or only the harm that the decedents' survivors allow them to do); or it is a functional magic spell, in which case they are a boon to the deceased.

Why pick on Mormons? Most religions sound looney to outsiders. Mormons sound positively conventional compared to Baptists, Scientologists, etc. It's how people behave, that concerns me.

Still I think some sort of standard should be set in. I think it should be for somebody a person is related to genealogically.
Posted by: John Paulson at February 29, 2012 5:00 AM

Trouble is, aren't we ALL related if you look back several thousand years?

I think the problem is, it's just plain RUDE and horribly insensitive from the survivors' point of view, especially in those cases where the beloved person was murdered (whether for religious reasons or not) or in cases where the deceased's religion was very important to him/her.

Mormons are just one little “m” away from being morons. The etymology of those words would be interesting.

Wait wait wait. If I get baptized and die I become God with my own planet? Sign me up. I woulndn't make that Adam and Eve mistake again.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PcQxQSGnSc&feature=endscreen&NR=1

Allow me to point out that if Mormons left Jews off their "to baptize" list, someone would be along to label them anti-semites.

Amy, you didn't capitalize God. No Heaven for you!

Isn't it strange that True Believers seem not to grasp the concept of ceaselessly adoring an omnipotent humanoid monster until the end of time?

If this baptism thing isn't panty-wadding, what is?

PS Gregg's going to get rid of the weird characters showing up

Hey! We're your fans!

Look, every religion has their weird shit. Transubstatiation? You mean be a cannibal? Half the stuff in the Kabbalah is silly, freaky witch doctor stuff. And Voodoo? Uh....

It is disrespectful to not consult the family prior to doing the baptism. That's just common sense in my book.

But WTF is Elie Weisel doing asking Mitt Romney to be a policy maker and spokesman for the Mormon Church? He's not running for supreme religious commander, he's running g for president. Every candidate has policy issues they need to address. But I don't give a damn that Romney is Mormon or that Santorum is Catholic. Of corse their religion shapes who they are, but I feel certain that all the candidates -including Obama- are not robots being controlled by their respective church leaders.

I don't want or expect Eric Cantor to explain or justify everything Conservative Jews do. I dont want Nancy Pelosi trying to tell me why the Vatican is wrong about abortion. I want them to explain to me why 50% of the people in this country pay no income tax, and why the public schools are enbaressingly bad.

>> and why the public schools are enbaressingly bad.

Yeah! Why is that?

How does this work? Do they dig up the body? NO? Then why the upset? I don't care if someone brands my dead body with an ode to the flying spagetti monster-I'm DEAD, that body is not me adn wherever I am people here on earth can't affect me. Do with me as you see fit. I personally find being upset about this about as dumb as making the court force someone to apologize to you on facebook. Get a life.

Yes, yes...a lot of misspelling there. In a hurry on an iPhone. Sue me.

It's not like they did this to their physical bodies, what's the big deal? Did they have possession of Daniel Pearl at some point? If that's the case, yeah, there's a problem. But blessing someone in absentia seems pretty harmless. If Amy, an atheist, dies and I say, "God bless her soul and may Jesus take her in his heart," you're going to be offended? It's harmless. Get over it.

I am sick of all of this anti-morman crap. No one mentions Harry Reid is a Mormon. None of the lefties are afraid of Harry Reid's Mormanism...it's so bigoted and stupid.

Alright, bear with me, as I've had no religious schooling. But doesn't baptism require sprinkling water on a person and a special ritual? I mean, I thought baptism was the bit where they dunked you in water? So unless they are digging up corpses or drugging folks up before a dunking, how is it official?

Also, FWIW, I think it is really disrespectful to the families ("Hey, Sue, we baptized Joe last week. Sorry you weren't there, but seeing as how you were setting up the funeral, we thought it might be an inconvenience!"), but I also think that the families should respond with "Well, shame on you for thinking that you had the right" as opposed to "We should make policies against this sort of thing!"

Sorry, I have to roll my eyes at this one.

I was raised Mormon and have even practiced these posthumous baptisms. I am no longer a practicing Mormon, but I have respect for dedication and passion that most of those people possess.

1. In the vast majority of cases, people only submit names in their proximal genealogical trees. The moronic Mormons like to "baptize" famous people who are completely unrelated. I believe in disregarding the idiotic minority.

2. Like commenters above have said, the baptism is not automatically forced upon the deceased's spirit in the afterlife, it's an offering.

Really, let's get over it and move on. In no way is the act of "baptizing" the deceased equatable to an act of dishonor. It's really nobody's business but the deceased's. It's definitely not the decision of the family. It wouldn't be the family's decision for the deceased to get baptized in real life, so why would it be in the spiritual realm?

What's RUDE here is people trying to control another's afterlife, family or not.

People are retaliating by turning dead mormons gay. As for comparing it to being a Righteous Gentile, apples and oranges. The RG honorific is out of genuine gratitude and has far more secular value than being suddenly being a little closer to the Osmond family.

I thought baptism was the bit where they dunked you in water? So unless they are digging up corpses or drugging folks up before a dunking, how is it official?

If I'm reading correctly, it's done by proxy. Someone "stands in" for the deceased.

...Simon Wiesenthal [was] posthumously baptized by church members at temples in Arizona and Utah in January.

I get why they're doing it, but why can't they just do it once? Why are they doing it in Arizona and Utah?

Is it like Catholic saints, every church wants a saint and a relic of its own?

And who's standing in for all these folks?

It's almost as if members in the church are in competition to see who can get the most-famous or the highest number of famous people on their proxy list - sort of like baseball trading cards for the hyper-religious.

Radkey has also produced records showing Mormons in the Dominican Republic baptized Anne Frank on Feb. 18.

Seriously, once you've baptized Anne Frank by proxy, leave the poor girl alone. The LDS church has already baptized her something like eight or nine times.

Why should a true believer of any particular brand of hokum care what some other group does?
If you truly believe xyz is god than the Mormons baptizing you in their secret batcave after your death should be meaningless and not worth discussing.

If you are not sure than you should be thankful cause Southpark has disclosed that Mormonism is the correct religion. IF there is a god and IF there is a .00000000000001% that Joseph Smith wasn't a complete conman.......what harm could happen if they baptize you after you die?

I personally belong to the God/dess of the month club. I think the Advice Goddess is scheduled to be worshipped sometime this summer. Hopefully Amy should see a spike in book sales when she is declared the goddess to be worshiped for the month.

The reason you wind up with multipule 'baptisms' of the same dead person is becuase like every large coperation keeping just one unified listis nigh impossible.

Mormon theology is a little convoluted, quite frankly Joseph Smith was a genius, the guy managed to 'answer' mostly every major unanswerable question of his days christian faiths. That his answers simply raised a whole new set of unaswerable questions requiring the same blind faith is something most moromons arent able to process.

There are a number of glaring internal incosistances that most would rather ignore as well.

If anyones interested I have a fairly consise word file I've saved a few yrs back when I used to frequent religious discussion boards which lays out the basic structer of the mormon belief system

Turnaround can be fair play.

http://alldeadmormonsarenowgay.com/

I look at this as the same as the Jewish declaration of "Righteous Persons" (or sometimes Righteous Gentiles)

Do you not understand the difference between honoring somebody and baptizing them? -- Amy Alkon Author Profile Page at February 29, 2012 9:38 AM

Yes, I do. This isn't the Catholic Church sainting someone. This is an honorable mention. What does it take to make a guy a Jew? A circumcision and a prayer?

From what quick research I did there is no "Righteous Persons" or rectitude designation in the New Testament. About the closest you can come is a type of saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church.

You make do with the tools you have in your type of sillines.

"IF there is a god and IF there is a .00000000000001% that Joseph Smith wasn't a complete conman..."

The guy basically made things up from the Egyptian Book of the Dead. This was easily exposed by anyone who knew about the Rosetta Stone. Of course, he isn't a flea fart next to Elron.

When it takes effort to tell the difference between fact and fiction, a lotta folk pick fiction. It's more fun, and they can change definitions whenever they feel the need.

"It looks like dirt digging and mud slinging of a sensitive topic to tar somebody else. I wonder what important Mormon is in the news lately." - John Paulson

I so agree. Every group has its idiots and it says something about those who try to tar and feather the entire group because of those few idiots.

The few people I've known were Mormons (I'm sure I knew and know more, but it hasn't come up) were the nicest people I've ever met. I can't agree with their beliefs, but on the whole I think they're a plus to the world. Their door knocking irritates me, but anyone who isn't capable of saying "I'm not interested, thank you" and shutting the door deserves what they get, I say.

DBF works with LOT of M's (that's our polite name for them, normally we call them MORONS) and we are in Colorado.

They are a cult. One gets in somewhere and they hire all their friends. It's frankly scary. Not joking.

The brainwashing is top-shelf. The women practically walk two steps behind their men. I am seriously not making this up. I've seen it. First hand. Know how I know? They have all been "instructed" not to talk to me because a) DBF and I have dated for 11 years and OMG NOT GOTTEN MARRIED AND HAD TEN KIDS and b) I DRINK ALCOHOL. THE HORROR!!!!!!!!!!!

And someone PLEASE stop those fucking, "and I'm a Mormon" ads. HOLY HELL!

One of the few things I think more fucked up then this is people's ability to be insulted by other people's belief's is about the Yusukuni Shrine.

Japanese politicians want to honor the war dead, but since some .04% of Souls in the shine are war criminals, other governments decide to get all indignant. I agree some tact and decorom would help. But to derail cooperation and inflame passions for somebody just bowing is stupid. I mean should some German be insulted in some Canadian prime minster bows to a poppy wreath honor the men that killed his ancestor.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controversies_surrounding_Yasukuni_Shrine

Eye roll again. Is this really that insulting? Somebody being honored in death.

I'm with Momof4, I've never met a Mormon I didn't like. But I'm from Massachusetts, and I also lived in San Francisco, and I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that while those Mormons are more conservative than the average Bostonian or San Franciscan, they're probably more liberal than the average Mormon or they wouldn't be able to stomach Cambridge/Boston or San Francisco.

Also, I prefer the Mormon doctrine of "We've offered your dead one a get-out-of-jail-free card for the afterlife" to the mainline Christian one of "I'm sorry, your dead one is burning in Hell forever"

I think we can now award and retire, for all time, the Much Ado about Nothing trophy.