Mitt Romeny and Forced Mormon Baptism

The Mormons have this little habit of baptizing dead Jews. Without ANYONE'S consent. This is considered a HUGE presumption and HUGELY insulting by most Jews. But now we learn that they went so far as to baptize Simon Wiesenthal's parents as well as Elie Wiesel and members of his family. Of course they are apologizing now and claiming it was the work of one rogue individual, but given that this was a deliberate policy such apologies and claims strike me as complete bullshit.

From BBC news:

Jews Asher and Rosa Rapp Wiesenthal were baptised in proxy ceremonies in the US states of Arizona and Utah in January, records show.

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints spokesman Michael Purdy said the Church' s leaders "sincerely regret" the actions of "an individual member".

The Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center denounced the news.

"We are outraged that such insensitive actions continue in the Mormon temples," said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, a spokesman at the centre...

Evidence that Wiesenthal's parents had been baptised was found by Helen Radkey, a researcher and former Mormon, AP reported.

She regularly checks the Church' s database, and also recently found the names of Nobel laureate and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel and several family members on the Mormon list...

"The only way such insensitive practices would finally stop is if church leaders finally decided to change their practices and policies on posthumous baptisms, a move which this latest outrage proves that they are unwilling to do," he said.

The Catholic Church has also objected to posthumous baptisms of its members.

[NOTE: I am not sure if the inclusion of Elie Wiesel on the list is a mistake on the part of reporters or on the part of the Mormons...Elie Wiesel isn't dead yet!]

For the Mormon church to claim that it is just the error or misbehavior of one member ignores the fact that this kind of posthumous baptism is CHURCH POLICY. Given that it has been Mormon church policy, it is something that Romney should be challenged on and Elie Wiesel has called on Romney to speak on the issue:

Wiesel said that the situation has gotten so out of hand that the most prominent Mormon in the country should speak out about it.

"I wonder if as a candidate for the presidency Mitt Romney is aware of what his church is doing. I hope that if he hears about this that he will speak up," Wiesel said, noting that a presidential candidate "should comment on everything."

Supporters of Romney have accused the media of linking him to controversial church practices even as they give other Mormons, such as Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, a pass. The Republican frontrunner has said that he has personally performed proxy baptisms as part of the Mormon Church.

HuffPost reached out via email to the Romney campaign for comment. In an email accidentally sent to the reporter, spokeswoman Gail Gitcho suggested that the campaign ignore the request.

Yes...Romney has performed such disgusting "conversions" HIMSELF and his campaign is trying to ignore the issue. And his campaign is STUPID enough to accidently send that info to the press (I assume pressing "reply" instead of "forward," something I have done but not with sensitive info!!!).

Contact the Mitt Romney campaign and challenge them on this issue. The Komen Foundation couldn't ignore us, let's see if we can force Romney into a corner as well:

For press inquiries, please contact press@mittromney.com.

For all other inquiries, please contact info@mittromney.com.

Mitt Romney for President
P.O. Box 149756
Boston, MA 02114-9756
857-288-3500

For more on this issue read this article from Jewishgen.org

And here is a statement from the Vatican on this issue.


Return to I Had a Thought

Return to my Genealogy Page

Return to Mole's Progressive Democrat