According to an AP story, a group of Holocaust survivors said Monday they've had it with negotiating over the posthumous baptisms of Jews killed in Nazi concentration camps. They say the LDS church has continually has continually violated a 13-year-old agreement and they want the baptisms stopped. Now. And in retrospect.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints a/k/a LDS a/k/a The Mormons said they are revising their genealogical database to make it harder for Holocaust victims to be "baptized by proxy." The Mormons have done the baptisms for more than a century (I've always thought it was a very charming and loving practice...this is the first I knew anyone actually objected).
Ernest Michel, chairman of a group of holocaust survivors, howver, says thet must also "implement a mechanism to undo what you have done." He spoke on the 70th anniversary of Kristallnacht, the Nazi-incited riots against Jews, when they destroyed businesses and harrassed Jews on the streets, in workplaces and homes, church, and schools.
Ernest Michel, chairman of a group of holocaust survivors, howver, says thet must also "implement a mechanism to undo what you have done." He spoke on the 70th anniversary of Kristallnacht, the Nazi-incited riots against Jews, when they destroyed businesses and harrassed Jews on the streets, in workplaces and homes, church, and schools.
"We ask you to respect us and our Judaism just as we respect your religion," Michel said in a statement released ahead of the news conference. "We ask you to leave our six million Jews, all victims of the Holocaust, alone, they suffered enough."
Baptism by proxy allows Mormons to have their ancestors baptized. They believe this reunites families in the afterlife. The church also baptizes people who have died from all over the world and from different religions. Mormons stand in as proxies for the person being baptized and immerse themselves in a baptismal pool.
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