By BR | 16.02.2012 | 1:28 ET in Europe

Hindus concerned at proxy baptism of Jews by Mormon Church

In view of reported proxy baptisms of some prominent Jews, concerned Hindus have urged The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) to set-up a mechanism to avoid baptizing by proxy their deceased ancestors without their will.

Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement from Nevada (USA) today, said that although they had not received any reports yet of such proxy baptisms of deceased Hindus by LDS, but they were simply concerned after learning of posthumous baptizing of parents of a well known Jew, whose names were not submitted for baptism.

Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, pointed out that Hindus did not mark death as the end of existence. Ancient Hindu scripture Bhagavad-Gita (Song of the Lord) referred to death as abandoning of worn-out clothes and acquiring new ones. Hindus believed in reincarnation with moksha (liberation) as a goal; which brought end to rebirth, embodiment and death.

Rajan Zed stressed that ancestors had always been highly important in Hinduism since ancient times. Hindus followed sraddha, pitryajna, pinda, etc., rituals for their ancestors. Hindu feelings would naturally be hurt if their ancestors were baptized without their will.

Zed noted that Hindus and most probably other faith communities worldwide would be willing to work with LDS to build bridges of understanding. He further said that they would gladly support the LDS endeavors if they made a good-faith effort and organized a meeting of various religious groups to come-up with a mechanism so that mistakes, errors, breaches and misunderstandings did not happen in the future in the area of proxy baptisms involving non-LDS ancestors.

Official LDS website says that the foundation of the doctrine of baptism for the dead comes from latter-day revelation through Prophet Joseph Smith. “By standing in as proxy for someone who has died — often one of his or her own ancestors — a Church member may be baptized on behalf of that deceased person…Lord does not damn those people who, through no fault of their own, never had the opportunity for baptism. He has therefore authorized baptisms to be performed by proxy for them…The validity of a baptism for the dead depends on the deceased person accepting it and choosing to accept and follow the Savior while residing in the spirit world”. Baptisms for the dead are performed only in temples because of sacredness involved and the ceremony reportedly involves immersion in water while dressed in white clothing.

According to LDS sources, Jesus Christ is the head of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints which has been restored by God through Joseph Smith (1805-44). This Salt Lake City (Utah, USA) headquartered one of the fastest growing church is led by 15 Apostles, including President Thomas S. Monson (who is also considered a prophet); first and second Counselors Henry B. Eyring and Dieter F. Uchtdorf respectively; and President of The Quorum of the Twelve Boyd K. Packer. LDS, also known as Mormon Church, which claims to be a Christian denomination, has 134 temples and a membership of over 14 million. Republican American presidential front-runner Mitt Romney is a Mormon and so is United States Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Hinduism, oldest and third largest religion of the world, has about one billion adherents.

6 Responses to Hindus concerned at proxy baptism of Jews by Mormon Church

Notm Ormon Reply

February 16, 2012 at 02:45

We believe in Tolerance of Religious views. Baptizing someone, by proxy, against their chosen religious views seems to be the opposite of tolerance. Therefore, you can now baptize friends and strangers to Notm Ormon
Fern RL Reply

February 16, 2012 at 17:22

Apparently there is a whole different mindset between Mormons and the rest of the world. We want our ancestors, who may have already been baptized Catholic or Protestant, to be baptized again because we don’t hold the previous baptisms to be valid. We also don’t really expect our baptisms to be valid if they are contrary to the will of the deceased person for whom they are performed. Our ancestors may include Jews or Hindus, so this “work” could be rightfully done by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The big question remaining is why do other people expect our ritual to have any meaning whatsoever to them? How can they possibly consider our baptisms to be valid if they don’t believe our doctrine?

Go ahead, devise some ritual in which you nullify the baptisms performed by the Mormons and see if we care.
- dmiller Reply
  
  February 17, 2012 at 02:28
  
  Will do. At that same time, I’ll create counter-ceremonies for the other secret rituals the Mormons do, beyond just baptism.
  
  For example, I’ll create a set of secret handshakes and passwords that is much better than the the Mormons’ 1st and 2nd tokens of the Aaronic and Melchizedek Priesthood, and their “accompanying names and signs”. And my secret covenants will be a lot better than the Mormons’ secret Laws of Chastity and Consecration. And the washing and anointings will be less naked and use scented oils.
  
  I’ll even throw in a proxy Second Endowment, where the dead person’s calling and election is made sure. The Mormons don’t even do that one for the dead!
- Mark Reply
  
  February 26, 2012 at 03:03
  
  As a jew (little “j” if you noticed), I, and others consider these “baptisms” to be little more than Honorary Doctorates to Clown College… after all, who else would denigrate the holy book of Christians, other than the Church of Morons.
LindaSDF Reply

February 17, 2012 at 05:21

If one of your descendants becomes LDS (Mormon), and wants to proxy baptize his/her ancestors, they should be allowed to do it.

1. We don’t believe that the person so baptized is now a Mormon. We believe that the dead have the same free choice as the living.

2. Either our baptisms have validity, or they don’t.

For example, Hindus. They believe in re-incarnation. We do not.

Let’s say that they are right, and we are wrong, and we do get re-incarnated as someone or something else.

How does our proxy baptisms affect this? Does it stop the circle of re-incarnated life? Do you believe it traps some poor soul in some sort of limbo?

Or will it have no affect at all?

If it’s not valid, if it has no affect from your POV, then why fight so hard against it? We don’t claim any dead persons as members of our church. Not even those who were members in life. If proxy baptisms count a person as an official member of our church, our numbers would not be 14 million, it would be closer to 14 Billion, with a B.

Finally, asking us to stop proxy baptisms is like asking Hindus to stop their worship, like making their shrines, or making them eat a big juicy hamburger or something. Or asking Catholics to stop crossing themselves, or asking orthodox Jews to stop wearing their religious clothing.
- Mark Reply
  
  February 26, 2012 at 03:15
  
  1. Let them make that choice in Life, don’t turn their lives into Dr. Seuss stories.
  
  2. They DON’T.
  
  Hindu have based their religion on centuries of cosmology, theology, and especially pure tradition, as opposed to a sham system of belief that is racist, immoral, and ignorant of the beliefs of other cultures, as well as invented by a known con artist.
  
  Catholics cross THEMSELVES. We JEWS dress OURSELVES. Proxy baptisms are like burning Korans, and WILL come back to bite you!