Journal for the Study of Antisemitism

LDS’s (Latter-day Saints) Posthumous Baptisms
Daniel N. Leeson*
While the era when well-meaning Catholics forcibly baptized Jews has
been over for some time, 1 Mormons continue the effort with a parallel practice
of forced baptism of the dead. 2
This Mormon activity became apparent when a broad array of Jews
developed an emotional need to immerse themselves in genealogical study
following the Holocaust. Many soon learned to use the Mormon Church’s
publicly available database, The International Genealogical Index (IGI),
which can be searched online with a personal computer. 3 The IGI is more
than a collection of names. It is an index to individuals posthumously baptized
in formal Mormon ceremonies and who are decreed by the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) as having accepted Jesus Christ.
Posthumous, proxy, vicarious, or temple baptism began c. 1840 and was
instituted to provide baptism for those who died without having received
the ritual. It is practiced by several groups in the Latter-day Saints movement.
4 In a second and follow-up ceremony, the deceased are confirmed as
members of LDS. 5 Since the author easily found several pre-1900 entries in
the IGI under the name “Cohen,” it appears that Jews and other non-
Mormons have been included in the Mormon rituals of proxy baptism since
the practice began.
Soon irregularities were discovered in the IGI. The Mormon Church’s
rules for its members dictated that only a Mormon who was a direct descendant
of an individual was authorized to baptize that antecedent posthumously.
Yet the IGI included the names of infants and children murdered in
the Holocaust. How was it possible for Jewish offspring who did not survive
their childhood to be the ancestors of Mormons?
* Daniel Leeson is retired from IBM and holds degrees in mathematics. He
resides in Los Altos, California and is a musician for several symphony orchestras.
1. For a discussion of what was a particularly egregious case of forced baptism,
see David Kertzer, The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara (New York: Alfred
Knopf, 1977).
2. For a chronicle of the Jewish-Mormon controversy, see http://www.jewishgen.org/infoFiles/ldsagree.html,
and also, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mormonism_and_Judaism.
3. The link to the IGI is http://www.familysearch.org/eng/default.asp.
4. See http://www.ldschurchtemples.com/mormon/baptism/.
5. For the specific rituals of the baptismal process, including the details of the
usurpation of the deceased into the body of the Mormon Church, see http://www.
lds-mormon.com/veilworker/rituals.shtml.
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