LDS First Presidency Issues Strong Letter On Proxy Baptisms, Cautions Members To Restrict Proxy Baptism Requests To Their Own Ancestral Line

On Sunday March 4th, 2012, bishops and branch presidents read a letter signed by the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints which reiterated policies concerning submission of names for proxy temple ordinances. The letter is expected to dampen festering resentment among some people, most notably Jewish leaders, over the practice. Some Jewish leaders were particularly incensed over the proxy baptism of Holocaust survivors, since they view them not merely as genocide victims, but also as martyrs for their faith, even though the Nazis did not necessarily distinguish between observant and non-observant Jews when they rounded them up.

The text of the letter:

We would like to reiterate the policies first stated in 1995 concerning the submission of names for proxy temple ordinances:

Our preeminent obligation is to seek out and identify our own ancestors. Those whose names are submitted for proxy temple ordinances should be related to the submitter.

Without exception, Church members must not submit for proxy temple ordinances any names from unauthorized groups, such as celebrities and Jewish Holocaust victims. If members do so, they may forfeit their New FamilySearch privileges. Other corrective action may also be taken.

Members are encouraged to participate in FamilySearch indexing which is vital to family history and temple work.

Bishops are asked to post this letter on their meetinghouse bulletin boards. Church members may seek the assistance of the family history consultants in their area for additional information, if needed. Name submission policies are also clearly stated on New.FamilySearch.org.

We appreciate the faithful adherence to these policies by all members of the Church.

Sincerely yours,

Thomas S. Monson

Henry B. Eyring

Dieter F. Uchtdorf

The First Presidency

A letter signed by the First Presidency carries more weight than an ordinary statement from LDS Public Affairs. When the First Presidency speaks, it resonates with prophetic authority.

LDS Church News offers more background. According to Dennis C. Brimhall, managing director of the Church's Family History Department, the conditions of use for the New.FamilySearch.org website are simple and straightforward; namely, that users should not submit the names of nonrelated persons for vicarious temple ordinances, including names of celebrities or famous people, or those gathered from unapproved extraction projects. Chapter 5.4 of the Church Handbook of Instructions Volume 2 is cited as an additional reference. In the final analysis, Church members are best advised to submit for temple ordinances only the names of those verified to be in their direct ancestral line.

Bill Maher Doesn't Want Any Mormons To Baptize Him After He Dies, And With His Potty Mouth, It Ain't Gonna Happen Right Away

Equipped with a bulging arsenal of f-bombs, notorious potty-mouth comic Bill Maher paid a visit to the Alumni Arena at the University of Buffalo on Saturday April 24th, 2010, and was his usual obnoxious, snarky self, according to this story in The Spectrum.

The controversial author, comedian and host of HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, set brutal honesty and crass humor as his objective in his pursuit to entertain a diverse crowd of University at Buffalo students and community members alike. After some typical political skewering, he turned his attention to religion, training his guns on the Bible, Mormons, and Catholics. Here's the excerpt:

Warning the audience that people often walk out when he criticizes religion, Maher wasted no time on calling the Bible a “seriously flawed holy book” and “a book of Jewish fairy tales.”

“Why is the purposeful suspension of critical thinking a good thing? … If Mother Theresa thinks it is a crock, then it is like finding out that Colonel Sanders doesn’t eat the chicken,” Maher said.

The speaker also mocked Mormons, adding that he would not want anyone to baptize him into the Church of Latter-Day Saints after he died. “I don’t want to spend my time … [Mormon], I’ll take my chances in hell – at least they have drugs down there,” he said.

With this in mind, Maher questioned why people would listen to the pope and his “giant pointy hat” about the great beyond. “It’s just so f**king stupid that people sit there and are like, ‘Yes, he must know [what happens after death],” he said.

Before discussing the scandal surrounding the Roman Catholic Church and sexually abused children, Maher disclosed that he was raised Catholic. He could see the potential for children to be molested because of what he viewed as a pattern among religious institutions. “Anytime there is a cult and there are people in pioneer outfits [running around], there is going to be some child-f**king going on,” he said. “Anytime there is a guy that says he is God’s infallible wingman, lock up the children.”

No danger of us being baptized on his behalf after he dies. If any of us were to be baptized on his behalf in a temple while Maher's in his present spiritual condition, we might find it necessary to rededicate the temple afterwards. Maher's clearly not ready for salvation, and it would be intrusive and invasive to offer him heaven until he's got hell completely out of his system. Say for another 1,000 years -- until the second resurrection, or the Resurrection of the Unjust. Naturally, the final decision correctly rests in the hands of our Heavenly Father; only He has the wisdom to render a completely fair judgment.

How Anti-Mormon Hatemonger Helen Radkey Became Obsessed With The LDS Church Practice Of Baptism For The Dead

On December 4th, 2009, the Salt Lake Tribune published a lengthy and well-written article about one of the true anti-Mormon hatemongers out there. Helen Radkey is to the LDS Church what Andree McLeod is to Sarah Palin - a regular thorn in the side. The article describes her background and lays out how she became so obsessed with the practice of baptism for the dead by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And yes, she's another one of those losers who got excommunicated from the Church for cause, but instead of taking it like an adult and either working her way back, or else finding another path to spiritual satisfaction, she decided to wage war against the Church.

The LDS website discusses baptism for the dead HERE. The Family Search website is HERE.

Summary: During her life, Helen Radkey has migrated from Catholicism to Mormonism and to the New Age movement. Originally from Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, she grew up a Catholic, but became dissatisfied with it. In 1963, two Mormon missionaries knocked on the door where she was a wife and mother, but for eight years, her husband refused to let her join the Church. Nevertheless, Radkey persevered, and in 1971, she relinquished the marriage and custody of her son and daughter for a chance to join.

Later that year, Radkey met Stuart Olmstead, an American who was living in Australia. He also joined the LDS Church; they were wed and later sealed in a temple. They had identical twin sons after moving to Sydney. But shortly thereafter, trouble set in. In a neighboring LDS ward, four members were excommunicated allegedly after a disagreement with LDS officials in Sydney. Radkey was outraged and complained loudly about the treatment. Because of their open apostasy, Radkey and her husband were disfellowshipped and both stopped attending. Three years later, she condemned blind obedience in a tract called Free Agency in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Australia and distributed 300 to 400 copies to members in the area. This resulted in her excommunication, but by then she had long stopped believing in Mormon doctrine. She decided the LDS Church was a "cult".

Fast forward to 1984, when she moved with her sons to Utah. She had some unresolved concerns with Mormonism, and thought she could help Mormons who had gone through what she had. But she also had a premonition that she would have something to do with Jews, and became obsessed with the Holocaust. "I developed a passion for the Holocaust. I have five crates of Holocaust books, took Israeli dancing and even took Hebrew classes," said Radkey. She also met Anthony Radkey, who worked in a flour mill and installed windows, but before she would marry him, Radkey insisted the nonpracticing Mormon have his name removed from LDS Church records. Mercifully for Anthony, the marriage ended in 1992. Helen also became a minister in the New Age-oriented Universal Life Church.

But her crusade against proxy baptisms really kicked off in July 1993, when Radkey visited the (Jesuit) Martyrs' Shrine in Ontario, Canada. Moved by what she saw, she returned to discover that Mormons had performed proxy baptisms for Gabriel Lalemant and the other martyrs. Thus began her dogged effort to publicize every posthumous LDS baptism that might offend others' religious sensibilities, beginning with Roman Catholics. In the mid-1990s, she remained focused on Catholic names, reporting findings to the Salt Lake City Diocese's bishop, George H. Niederauer, who dismissed her concerns.

Official LDS Church Statement In Reaction To Proxy Baptism Of The Late Stanley Ann Durham, Mother Of Barack Obama

The report of the posthumous proxy baptism of Stanley Ann Durham, the mother of President Barack Obama, has generated yet another round of anti-Mormon hysteria amongst those who are terminally contemptuous of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as well as genuine concern amongst those who honestly misunderstand the intent and purposes of LDS ordinances on behalf of the dead.

A screenshot of the actual record is posted on Politico. Reaction on Joe.My.God, the AmericaBlog, the Salt Lake Crawler, and Mormon Curtain was bitterly critical and regurgitated some classic anti-Mormon canards. In contrast, a sampling of unofficial LDS reaction by individual members is now posted on the Bloggernacle, to include Times and Seasons, A Soft Answer and Mormon Matters. For its part, the Obama Administration has not reacted to this development.

The proxy baptism of Stanley Ann Durham was not done with the official sanction of the Church, and represents a departure from the manner in which Latter-day Saints are directed to pursue and undertake this ordinance. The LDS Church issued a full statement, posted on the KSL Channel 5 website. For further dissemination, the statement is cross-posted below in full:

Statement from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints:

The offering of baptism to our deceased ancestors is a sacred practice to us and it is counter to Church policy for a Church member to submit names for baptism for persons to whom they are not related. The Church is looking into the circumstances of how this happened and does not yet have all the facts. However, this is a serious matter and we are treating it as such.

Doctrinal Background

For nearly 180 years, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have performed baptisms in Church temples on behalf of deceased relatives. The practice is rooted in the belief that certain sacred sacraments, such as baptism, are required to enter the kingdom of heaven and that a just God will give everyone who ever lived a fair opportunity to receive them, whether in this life or the next. Church members who perform temple baptisms for their deceased relatives are motivated by love and sincere concern for the welfare of all of God's children. According to Church doctrine, a departed soul in the afterlife is completely free to accept or reject such a baptism — the offering is freely given and must be freely received. The Church has never claimed the power to force deceased persons to become Church members or Mormons, and it does not list them as such on its records. The notion of coerced conversion is utterly contrary to Church doctrine.

Although the Church believes everyone must ultimately have the opportunity to receive the sacraments of salvation, Church members are counseled to request temple baptism only on behalf of their relatives. However, well-meaning Church members sometimes bypass this instruction and submit the names of non-relatives for temple baptism. Others — perhaps pranksters or careless persons — have submitted the names of unrelated famous or infamous people, or even wholly fictitious names. These rare acts are contrary to Church policy and sometimes cause pain and embarrassment. They are also extremely difficult to prevent because the temple baptism process depends on voluntary compliance by millions of Church members around the world. The Church nearly always learns about problems after the fact.

The LDS Church's current policy on posthumous ordinances for the dead evolved as a result of complaints directed towards them by a Jewish extremist group, the American Gathering of Holocaust Survivors, beginning in 1995. Church authorities subsequently reached an agreement with them not to posthumously baptize Jewish Holocaust victims unless they are actual ancestors of current LDS members. And the policy is enforced and has worked reasonably well; since that time, the Church removed 260,000 names of victims submitted to its International Genealogical Index. In addition, 43,000 additional names -- 42,000 of them identified by the church -- have since been found and removed, which demonstrates that the Church is monitoring the process to ensure it is upholding its end of the deal. There are no other reasonable precautions that the Church can be expected to take.

Terminating the practice is not an option. Our legal religious practices and ordinances are not subject to the so-called "court of public opinion". We don't expect other faiths or denominations to change practices with which we disagree; likewise, we will not entertain such requests from others. Major historical doctrinal changes, such as the Manifesto of 1890, which indefinitely suspended the practice of plural marriage, and the Revelation of 1978, which extended Priesthood membership to all worthy LDS males, were not enacted because of popular opinion, but because of divine revelation. You either believe it or you don't.

By the way, Ardis Parshall has just revealed through his research that one of Stanley Ann Durham's ancestors was a member of what was once referred to as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, now known as the Community of Christ.

More doctrinal background on vicarious ordinances for the dead can be found at the following links:

-- November 2008 Background statement on LDS Newsroom
-- LDS Gospel Library Link - Baptisms for the Dead
-- Jeff Lindsay's FAQ on Baptism for the Dead
-- Light Planet: Baptism for the Dead