It is an idiocy all the more pronounced since this is not an errant statement but an argument that has been pushed time and again over a number of years. That is all the more tragic because it is clear that the Simon Wiesenthal Center does some very valuable work and such puerile tactics threaten their otherwise well deserved credibility. But before getting into that perhaps it's worth setting out some of the background to the 'debate'.
Baptism for the Dead
The LDS baptise the dead. (Generally, although inaccurately, LDS is viewed as a synonym for 'Mormonism', which is rather like using the term Assemblies of God to describe all Pentecostals, but that is by the by). Saying LDS baptise the dead does not mean a physical rite involving a corpse. If that were the case you can be sure that I would be on the side of Rabbi Cooper! Unlike in much Christianity there is in Mormonism a clear expectation that death is not the end of an individual's decision to choose God; Joseph Smith, for example, taught that “the greatest responsibility in this world that God has laid upon us is to seek after our dead.” By performing a rite of proxy baptism (based on 1 Cor 15:29) the LDS believe that those who die outside the faith are offered a way out of Spirit-prison and to enter God's into salvation – the practice of seeking out the names of all those deceased is, literally, an attempt to declare the universal love of God. Concerning the practice, A Convert's Guide to Mormon Life sets out this view clearly:
Church members are making every effort to identify every man, woman and child who ever lived on the face of the earth so that baptisms and other ordinances can be performed on their behalf. Until the Millennium, we are seeking out the dead, one name at a time.
This baptism is not, however, sufficient to make a person who died an atheist, Muslim, Christian, Jew or any of the hundreds of other faith and belief system a 'true mormon'. A confession and decision on the part of the deceased is necessary for that to happen.
Cooper's Complaint
And yet, Rabbi Cooper is adamant the LDS are performing a horrendous act of disrespect in baptising by proxy of the parents of Simon Wiesenthal who were victims of the Holocaust. Cooper explains “[w]e are outraged that such insensitive actions continue in the Mormon Temples. Throughout his life, Simon Wiesenthal especially revered his beloved mother who was deported and murdered at Belzec death camp in 1942,” and further that "[t]heir physical lives were taken, their communities were destroyed and now somebody is coming along, however well-intentioned, and is suggesting that they're going to rebrand their souls … It just doesn't compute.”
Article comments
1 - Brad Lee
Yes, you just may be the smartest non-mormon man speaking on this subject. As a Mormon, I will not waste my time to add your name to the list of post mortem baptisms.
All I could say is you are totally right, if Mormons baptise someone of the Jewish faith, the Jewish faith should shrug their shoulders and say, whatever. Unless Jews or anyone else believe a mormon baptism actually works...which they shouldn't. If they do, they should convert to Mormonism and also baptise their ancestors.
2 - Joe
I'm not sure it is as easy as that. If someone was able to find out that their relatives had been baptised, presumably there must be some kind of public register (which makes no logical sense - if there doesn't need to be the body present, why not symbolically use the sea and baptise the whole of humanity - why do you need to baptise individual, named people, and how are you deciding who deserves baptism..? anyway, I digress). And, like it or not, that implies that the personal faith of the dead person is as nothing compared to your religious rite.
And if you are a religious person who really believed in the dead-person's faith, is understandably really offensive.
There is of course a simple solution: the LDS could refuse to comment on who they've decided to baptise then the rest of us could ignore them. Simples.
3 - Tom J
Some people think that "Mormons" ( members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) are not Christian, but the reason we proxy baptize for the dead is Jesus' statement, "Except a man be born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God" (John 3:5) and the practice of early Christians to baptize for the dead (1 Corinthians 15:29). Do you realize that we don't know the religious preference of 95% of the people who have died; only 5% left any record of what their religious preference was. The reason I believe that it is not offensive to baptize someone for the dead, even someone who was known to be committed to a particular religion, is that after we die, we will all have much more knowledge of religious truth and some people may want to accept this baptism, whithout which Jesus said they cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Tom J
4 - Dave Nalle
I like Stephen Colbert's proposal that Rabbis start circumcising dead Mormons.
Dave
5 - Casper
@Brad Thanks for the kind thoughts.
@Tom - I have to say that strikes me as a very tenous exegesis of Jn 3 but I'll let that slide. I can see that is is possible that the practice is offensive but, as i said, so what? Religious beliefs often offend that is the price of freedom.
@Joe Actually i think that has pretty much been LDS' position, the news of the baptisms was disseminated by an ex-mormon researcher.