LDS Church Performs Proxy Baptisms of Dead Holocaust Victims Without Families' Permission

In 1995, the Jewish community learned that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was researching the names of the Jews murdered during the Holocaust in World War II. Mormons were then having a person stand in for each dead Jew and baptizing them by proxy into the Mormon church. This practice greatly upset the Jews, as it did many other groups since it is done without consent from the descendants of the dead. As a result of a threatened lawsuit by the Jewish community, the Mormons officially agreed to remove the approximately 380,000 Jewish names from their lists and cease the vicarious baptisms. In 1999, it was discovered that proxy baptisms of the Jews were still taking place contrary to the agreement. This re-ignited anger from the Jewish community. Once again the LDS church would agreed to cease this practice and remove the names already baptized by proxy.

However, in December 2003 a Jewish group discovered that this posthumous baptizing of many Jews, especially the Holocaust victims, continued. The current list has such people as philosopher Theodor Herzl, Anne Frank the teenage diarist, and David Ben-Gurion, the first prime minister of Israel. The Jewish community is considering legal action to stop this practice once and for all.

The Mormon church is not going to ask living descendants for permission to baptize the dead. They know that Jewish families will never give their permission. To the Mormons it's not a matter of simply wanting the name to build an ancestral record for research purposes. Doctrine & Covenants 128:15 says, "And now, my dearly beloved brethren and sisters, let me assure you that these are principles in relation to the dead and the living that cannot be lightly passed over, as pertaining to our salvation. For their salvation is necessary and essential to our salvation, as Paul says concerning the fathers-that they without us cannot be made perfect-neither can we without our dead be made perfect." The Mormon church may agree to remove the names they already have, but they will just create another list so the work they have already done will not be lost. They will continue to baptize every person who has ever lived on this planet, from Abraham through Jews living today. Their attitude is: should they obey man's law or their prophets' law? Obviously they feel they must obey their living prophets because they believe their god speaks to the prophets.

I've discussed this with many people, including Jews, and my advice is to let the Mormons know you are offended. This practice is also offensive to God. Psalms 49:7-8 says, "None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him: (For the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth for ever:)" Let's continue praying for Mormons to have their eyes and minds opened to the truth found in God's Word, the Holy Bible, His final and infallible word in which we can trust completely.

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