Boston University professor Elie Wiesel called upon Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney to ask members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to stop posthumously baptizing Holocaust victims.
Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor and Nobel laureate, said the Mormon church baptized the deceased parents of Simon Wiesenthal, a late Holocaust survivor and Nazi hunter, according to an article published in The Washington Post on Feb. 14.
“Essentially, Mormons believe that they are exclusively right about religion and that their religion is the only path to the best afterlife,” said Cristine Hutchison-Jones, an expert on Mormonism, in a phone interview with The Daily Free Press.
Hutchison-Jones, who graduated from the School of Theology in 2011, said Mormons believe baptizing people after their death benefits them in the afterlife.
“Mormons don’t believe they are forcing people to become Mormon, they only believe they are giving the deceased a choice in afterlife,” Hutchison-Jones said.
Rabbi Shmuel Posner of The Chabad House of Greater Boston said while he does not think a baptism in the afterlife would affect who he is, a posthumous baptism “desecrates” the memory of the deceased.
“Taking specific people and doing something that’s going to effect their identity seems to be overstepping the line,” Posner said.
The church released an official statement on Feb. 14 stating it prohibits proxy baptisms of Holocaust victims. Members of the church can request these baptisms for their own ancestors, according to the statement.
Though the Wiesel family names are in the genealogical database from which baptism subjects are taken, they will not be subjected to posthumous baptisms.
Proxy baptisms began in the early 19th century after Joseph Smith founded the church, Hutchison-Jones said. Mormons whose relatives “died without ever hearing his message” were given posthumous baptisms.
Posner said he doubts Romney can have any say over whether or not the Mormons continue these practices on non-members.
“What is his role within the Mormon church?” Posner said. “He’s not running to be the president of Mormons, he’s running to be the president of the United States.”
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