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Community => Religion and Philosophy => Topic started by: Stormwarden on February 17, 2012, 12:05:05 am

Title: Friends don't let friends Baptize post-mortem
Post by: Stormwarden on February 17, 2012, 12:05:05 am
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/mormon_explainer_1/2012/02/mormons_baptize_wiesenthals_is_there_a_way_to_stop_baptism_by_proxy_.html

Looks like the LDS went and baptized the 'rents of famous Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal, and also got in hot water for trying the same with a Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel, never mind that the latter is STILL ALIVE. Both were holocaust victims, btw, who are OFF LIMITS.

It looks like this shit keeps happening because it doesn't occur to the LDS to keep a national "do not baptize" registry. There was an agreement made by the LDS and the Jewish community not to do that.  It takes a certain level of stupidity to think that it's okay to do shit like this.
Title: Re: Friends don't let friends Baptize post-mortem
Post by: ironbite on February 17, 2012, 12:20:50 am
Thought that after they tried this with Obama's mother they were told to stop it.

Ironbite-guess I was wrong!
Title: Re: Friends don't let friends Baptize post-mortem
Post by: MaybeNever on February 17, 2012, 12:24:39 am
It looks like this shit keeps happening because it doesn't occur to the LDS to keep a national "do not baptize" registry.

Or because they appear to be constitutionally incapable of exhibiting any actual concern for ethics.
Title: Re: Friends don't let friends Baptize post-mortem
Post by: Meshakhad on February 17, 2012, 12:33:18 am
Wait, did they actually try to baptize Elie Wiesel?
Title: Re: Friends don't let friends Baptize post-mortem
Post by: ThunderWulf on February 17, 2012, 12:41:18 am
(http://memeorama.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/wait-what-meme-rage-face.jpg)

Will these people ever learn?
Title: Re: Friends don't let friends Baptize post-mortem
Post by: Stormwarden on February 17, 2012, 12:46:40 am
Meshakhad: Yes, yes they did. The church put a stop to it when they realized, but I do believe the damage has been done.
Title: Re: Friends don't let friends Baptize post-mortem
Post by: Eniliad on February 17, 2012, 01:10:52 am
Idiots and assholes.
Title: Re: Friends don't let friends Baptize post-mortem
Post by: Askold on February 17, 2012, 02:21:14 am
When I saw the topic I got this Bon Voyage feeling, like I've been here before. And now that I read the article, yes we did have this same topic before about the holocaust victims being baptized.

Why do they even do this? Is it some weird gotta cath em all thing? Are they going to start claiming that LDS were persecuted by nazies? If so then why did they also convert Adolf Hitler to LDS? (According to wikipedia, although the source appears to be unreliable. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baptism_for_the_dead#cite_note-47 )


Title: Re: Friends don't let friends Baptize post-mortem
Post by: Meshakhad on February 17, 2012, 03:35:30 am
When I saw the topic I got this Bon Voyage feeling, like I've been here before. And now that I read the article, yes we did have this same topic before about the holocaust victims being baptized.

Why do they even do this? Is it some weird gotta cath em all thing? Are they going to start claiming that LDS were persecuted by nazies? If so then why did they also convert Adolf Hitler to LDS? (According to wikipedia, although the source appears to be unreliable. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baptism_for_the_dead#cite_note-47 )

I think you mean "deja vu". "Bon Voyage" means "good journey".
Title: Re: Friends don't let friends Baptize post-mortem
Post by: Askold on February 17, 2012, 03:57:03 am
When I saw the topic I got this Bon Voyage feeling, like I've been here before. And now that I read the article, yes we did have this same topic before about the holocaust victims being baptized.

Why do they even do this? Is it some weird gotta cath em all thing? Are they going to start claiming that LDS were persecuted by nazies? If so then why did they also convert Adolf Hitler to LDS? (According to wikipedia, although the source appears to be unreliable. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baptism_for_the_dead#cite_note-47 )

I think you mean "deja vu". "Bon Voyage" means "good journey".

Well there was a 50/60 chance of me being right.
Title: Re: Friends don't let friends Baptize post-mortem
Post by: one-shot on February 17, 2012, 05:00:43 am
They've been warned before.  And they've said they'd stop.  But, apparently, none of that really matters to them.
Title: Re: Friends don't let friends Baptize post-mortem
Post by: N. De Plume on February 17, 2012, 08:03:06 am
Why do they even do this?
It is all part of a last ditch effort to save the person’s soul, of course!

Quote
Mormons believe posthumous baptism by proxy allows deceased persons to receive the Gospel in the afterlife. The church believes departed souls can then accept or reject the baptismal rites and contends the offerings are not intended to offend anyone.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-faith/mormons-apologize-for-proxy-posthumous-baptism-of-jewish-rights-advocate-wiesenthals-family/2012/02/14/gIQAf8WpDR_story.html (http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-faith/mormons-apologize-for-proxy-posthumous-baptism-of-jewish-rights-advocate-wiesenthals-family/2012/02/14/gIQAf8WpDR_story.html)
Title: Re: Friends don't let friends Baptize post-mortem
Post by: Bezron on February 17, 2012, 03:27:47 pm
Why do they even do this?
It is all part of a last ditch effort to save the person’s soul, of course!

Quote
Mormons believe posthumous baptism by proxy allows deceased persons to receive the Gospel in the afterlife. The church believes departed souls can then accept or reject the baptismal rites and contends the offerings are not intended to offend anyone.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-faith/mormons-apologize-for-proxy-posthumous-baptism-of-jewish-rights-advocate-wiesenthals-family/2012/02/14/gIQAf8WpDR_story.html (http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-faith/mormons-apologize-for-proxy-posthumous-baptism-of-jewish-rights-advocate-wiesenthals-family/2012/02/14/gIQAf8WpDR_story.html)

The real question is:  why the fuck do people care in the first place?  If you don't believe the same as the Mormons do, then it doesn't matter what they do.  If you do believe the same as they do, then you are likely not complaining about it. 

Is it disrespectful?  Yep.  Is Mormon leadership filled with assholes and attention whores?  By and large yes.

It should be noted that they aren't physically assaulting people, these are baptisms by proxy.
Title: Re: Friends don't let friends Baptize post-mortem
Post by: Old Viking on February 17, 2012, 03:42:09 pm
What Bezron says.  Who in his right mind pays attention to this meaningless nonsense? 
Title: Re: Friends don't let friends Baptize post-mortem
Post by: clockworkgirl21 on February 17, 2012, 03:57:05 pm
It's an asshole move, yeah, but it's a waste to spend so much energy on something that has no affect on anything whatsoever, because it isn't real.
Title: Re: Friends don't let friends Baptize post-mortem
Post by: Lithp on February 17, 2012, 06:03:37 pm
Why waste so much money on funerals in the first place? Why not just throw the guy in a ditch & let the wilderness sort him out?
Title: Re: Friends don't let friends Baptize post-mortem
Post by: N. De Plume on February 17, 2012, 08:10:06 pm
The real question is:  why the fuck do people care in the first place?
They honestly believe that they are helping your soul along in the afterlife. To them, it is an act of compassion, just as sure as any act that save actual lives here and now.
Title: Re: Friends don't let friends Baptize post-mortem
Post by: kefkaownsall on February 17, 2012, 10:35:41 pm
I hate when this happens.  Mitt Romney did it to his father in law
Title: Re: Friends don't let friends Baptize post-mortem
Post by: Code Monkey on February 17, 2012, 10:45:26 pm
They've been warned before.  And they've said they'd stop.  But, apparently, none of that really matters to them.
These baptism lists are compiled by individual members, not by any of the higher-ups. It's not fair to blame the church as a whole.
Title: Re: Friends don't let friends Baptize post-mortem
Post by: Lithp on February 18, 2012, 03:34:29 pm
And if I was a higher-up, that would be just what I'd claim, even as I implied that this is what the peons should be doing.
Title: Re: Friends don't let friends Baptize post-mortem
Post by: Yaezakura on February 18, 2012, 03:41:46 pm
Really, I don't see the point of getting all huffy over it. Even the Mormons only believe that the baptisms give the dead the option of accepting. I mean... no one gets offended when someone offers a prayer to the dead, even is of a different faith. How is it any different?
Title: Re: Friends don't let friends Baptize post-mortem
Post by: TenfoldMaquette on February 18, 2012, 04:05:11 pm
Really, I don't see the point of getting all huffy over it. Even the Mormons only believe that the baptisms give the dead the option of accepting. I mean... no one gets offended when someone offers a prayer to the dead, even is of a different faith. How is it any different?

Baptizing someone is an act that takes them into the faith they are baptized under. It's laying claim to someone, making them a member of the religious community, and thus heavily implying that the baptized individual accepts as valid the tenants of the church under which they are baptized. To do this to someone who is dead, who cannot consent to nor nay-say their actions, is to white-wash the deceased person's personal beliefs  - and thus to some extent, their identity - into something more compliant with what the church would prefer. It's horribly disrespectful and thoroughly tasteless.
Title: Re: Friends don't let friends Baptize post-mortem
Post by: Askold on February 18, 2012, 04:19:40 pm
Really, I don't see the point of getting all huffy over it. Even the Mormons only believe that the baptisms give the dead the option of accepting. I mean... no one gets offended when someone offers a prayer to the dead, even is of a different faith. How is it any different?

Well I guess the difference is that the Mormons were actually listing the deceaced as mormons. They had records saying that these dead people had converted to Mormonism after their death.

So even if they claim that the dead are merely given an option they still claim that they had in fact accepted and are now mormons. This is taking advantage of people who have no way to defend themselves. (Well other than coming back from the dead to claim their revenge...)
Title: Re: Friends don't let friends Baptize post-mortem
Post by: Lithp on February 18, 2012, 04:41:33 pm
What I just don't understand is why people are questioning why people who obviously value symbolic gestures are offended at mere symbolic gestures.
Title: Re: Friends don't let friends Baptize post-mortem
Post by: Eniliad on February 18, 2012, 06:00:37 pm
I know that if I became noteworthy in some way, I'd hate to have my final rest disturbed so my bones can be dunked in water just so some Mormon ... priest? Whatever the equivalent is... can get their spiritual rocks off. It's bullshit.

Well, obviously I couldn't hate it. I'd be dead. But you know.
Title: Re: Friends don't let friends Baptize post-mortem
Post by: Yaezakura on February 18, 2012, 06:54:38 pm
I know that if I became noteworthy in some way, I'd hate to have my final rest disturbed so my bones can be dunked in water just so some Mormon ... priest? Whatever the equivalent is... can get their spiritual rocks off. It's bullshit.

Well, obviously I couldn't hate it. I'd be dead. But you know.
Uh... the baptisms are done by proxy. As in, a Mormon individual acts as a stand-in for the ceremony. They're not digging up corpses and dunking them in a tub of water.
Title: Re: Friends don't let friends Baptize post-mortem
Post by: Eniliad on February 18, 2012, 07:27:52 pm
Ohhhhhhhh.........

Okay, that's less horrific than I thought at first read.

Still mightily disrespectful, though.
Title: Re: Friends don't let friends Baptize post-mortem
Post by: Lithp on February 18, 2012, 07:30:22 pm
I thought they just kind of threw it on the tombstone.
Title: Re: Friends don't let friends Baptize post-mortem
Post by: e13 on February 18, 2012, 07:48:45 pm
I thought they just kind of threw it on the tombstone.
I'm picturing a bunch of Mormons running down the rows of a graveyards, flinging holy water at all the gravestones while they sing the theme to Pokémon.  ;D
Title: Re: Friends don't let friends Baptize post-mortem
Post by: Eniliad on February 18, 2012, 08:40:15 pm
I thought they just kind of threw it on the tombstone.
I'm picturing a bunch of Mormons running down the rows of a graveyards, flinging holy water at all the gravestones while they sing the theme to Pokémon.  ;D

Gotta catch 'em all!
Title: Re: Friends don't let friends Baptize post-mortem
Post by: Shane for Wax on February 19, 2012, 04:05:25 am
THE POWER OF CHRIST COMPELS YOU!
Title: Re: Friends don't let friends Baptize post-mortem
Post by: MaybeNever on February 22, 2012, 01:53:23 pm
Baptizing post-mortem? Two can play at this game. (http://alldeadmormonsarenowgay.com/)
Title: Re: Friends don't let friends Baptize post-mortem
Post by: Stormwarden on February 22, 2012, 11:37:44 pm
This is relevant: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/21/mormons-posthumous-baptism-anne-frank_n_1292102.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000009

They're baptizing Anne Frank. Again. I'm sorry, but how much of a douchebag do you have to be to do that? And WHY WOULD YOU?
Title: Re: Friends don't let friends Baptize post-mortem
Post by: ironbite on February 22, 2012, 11:56:14 pm
Wait...again!?  AGAIN!?

Ironbite-seriously, the hubris of these people.
Title: Re: Friends don't let friends Baptize post-mortem
Post by: Cataclysm on February 23, 2012, 12:12:43 am
Why is this even necessary? Why can't their God just give dead people the choice?

I mean, from what I heard their God isn't omnipotent, but really?
Title: Re: Friends don't let friends Baptize post-mortem
Post by: Osama bin Bambi on February 23, 2012, 12:13:56 am
This is relevant: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/21/mormons-posthumous-baptism-anne-frank_n_1292102.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000009

They're baptizing Anne Frank. Again. I'm sorry, but how much of a douchebag do you have to be to do that? And WHY WOULD YOU?

Somewhere, a higher-up in the Mormon Church is trolololololing.

If you can be saved after your death, then what's the point of converting to Mormonism in the first place? Theoretically as long as there's one Mormon alive he could do salvationations for all the rest of us.

Yes, I just said "salvationations."
Title: Re: Friends don't let friends Baptize post-mortem
Post by: Shane for Wax on February 25, 2012, 05:54:10 am
This is relevant: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/21/mormons-posthumous-baptism-anne-frank_n_1292102.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000009

They're baptizing Anne Frank. Again. I'm sorry, but how much of a douchebag do you have to be to do that? And WHY WOULD YOU?

    Anne Frank was murdered
    She was murdered because she was Jewish
    She was murdered by people who hated Jews
    Those people hated Jews because of a nearly two thousand year old prejudice that stated that Jews were lesser than Christians
    These people justified their beliefs because according to their scripture, Jews go to hell unless they convert to Christianity, i.e.: be baptized
    Throughout history, this involved forced baptisms of Jews, most notably during the Spanish Inquisition
    The Mormons just forcibly converted Anne Frank
    Because they believe that unless they did so, she would go to hell
    Because they believe that Jews go to hell when they die 
    Which is the belief which led to Anne Frank’s murder

Did I miss anything? (stole the list from tumblr as it was a lot less swear-y than mine)
Title: Re: Friends don't let friends Baptize post-mortem
Post by: TheL on February 25, 2012, 08:25:38 pm
This is relevant: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/21/mormons-posthumous-baptism-anne-frank_n_1292102.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000009

They're baptizing Anne Frank. Again. I'm sorry, but how much of a douchebag do you have to be to do that? And WHY WOULD YOU?

    Anne Frank was murdered
    She was murdered because she was Jewish
    She was murdered by people who hated Jews
    Those people hated Jews because of a nearly two thousand year old prejudice that stated that Jews were lesser than Christians
    These people justified their beliefs because according to their scripture, Jews go to hell unless they convert to Christianity, i.e.: be baptized
    Throughout history, this involved forced baptisms of Jews, most notably during the Spanish Inquisition
    The Mormons just forcibly converted Anne Frank
    Because they believe that unless they did so, she would go to hell
    Because they believe that Jews go to hell when they die 
    Which is the belief which led to Anne Frank’s murder

Did I miss anything? (stole the list from tumblr as it was a lot less swear-y than mine)

Well, technically she died of disease (I want to say cholera but I don't remember exactly) in the concentration camp, instead of being directly murdered, but since the Nazis intended to kill everyone in the camps anyway, that's sort of a moot point.