Mormon Church apologizes for posthumous baptisms

The parents of Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal received the rite, which was also sought for relatives of Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel. Critics note that Mormons agreed in 1995 to stop baptizing Jewish victims of the Holocaust.
Continue reading Los Angeles Times article here >>>

---

Wiesenthal Center Denounces ‘Baptisms’ of Simon Wiesenthal’s Parents in Mormon Temples

February 9, 2012

The Simon Wiesenthal Center denounced the recent posthumous “baptism” of the parents of Simon Wiesenthal in Mormon temples (see image from website below - click to enlarge).

“We are outraged that such insensitive actions continue in the Mormon Temples. Throughout his life, Simon Wiesenthal especially revered his beloved mother who was deported and murdered at Belzec death camp in 1942. Such actions make a mockery of the many meetings with the top leadership of the Mormon Church dating back to 1995 that focused on the unwanted and unwarranted posthumous baptisms of Jewish Victims of the Nazi Holocaust,” said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center and who participated in many of the high-level meetings between Jews with Mormon officials.

“We note that these rites were undertaken and confirmed in Mormon Temples in Utah, Arizona, and Idaho. Further meetings with Church leaders on this matter are useless. 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. We are grateful to activist Helen Radkey for exposing the latest outrage.”