At a time when the Mormon Church is trying hard to reach out to skeptics to project an image of universal concern and likability via bill boards and TV ads it is difficult to fathom the churchs backtracking on an agreement to stop baptizing Jews posthumously or vicariously.
It seems that a few church members, perhaps not acting on behalf of the church, have baptized posthumously the late parents of the late Nazi hunter, Simon Wiesenthal, and baptized vicariously Elie Wiesel reserving him a baptized place in Heaven. The fact that the church itself might not have authorized this does not exonerate it. Obviously, its agreement to stop these posthumous baptisms was not taken seriously enough to educate its own adherents about the agreement.
On one level, Jews regard the practice as bizarre, so far removed from any level of spiritual integrity as to generate more laughter than anything else. On another level, this practice is clearly an attack on Jewish self-understanding, clearly an act of disrespect. Well, adherents of one religious are allowed to disrespect the tenets of any other religion. Its free country. It is also, however, radically at odds with the recent campaign of the church to polish its image. Will the real Mormon Church please stand up?
Copyright © 2012 by the Intermountain Jewish News
