Thursday, January 7, 2010

Mormons Baptize Holocaust Victims

I was a Reform Jew, then Orthodox, now atheist. I've never cared what Mormons do. Shtus is shtus. Yet everyone practically takes up arms whenever they baptize the dead. Why?

4 comments:

  1. It reminds me of Lubavitch. Some Lubavitchers think a certain rabbi was the Messiah. So what? Traditional Jewish belief includes a Messiah. Is it that much more ridiculous to say "X is the Messiah" than to say "I believe in the concept of Messiah?" So why are these Lubavitchers condemned by virtually all Orthodox Jews?

    I think it's because they remind them of how insane they really are. Most Orthodox Jews secretly don't believe in the Messiah, but they prefer to keep that fact to themselves, and they hate having to think about their professed "beliefs." So they lash out at anyone who reminds them of their own zany shit. It's their own cognitive dissonance which is killing them, and it's that psychological torture which so many "religious people" constantly undergo which is, I think, a profound crime against humanity.

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  2. Because most people and cultures have a certain feeling of respect towards their dead - they should be allowed to rest in peace. What the Mormons are doing is trying to exhume those dead and change them in ways they never would have consented to while alive. This would repulse most people, even non-Jews.

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  3. If the Mormons are right (which I don't believe they are) then they have done a good thing by providing the deceased with a second chance at salvation. If the Mormons are wrong, then they have done something meaningless. I honestly don't see what the big deal is.

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  4. As irrational as the reaction may be, the idea of Mormons baptising people murdered for being members of another faith/ethnic group/ whatever is offensive. It implies that there is something wrong with being Jewish, and they have the power to correct that terrible flaw. Not that we don't know they think so, but this makes us think about how they think.

    From a purely rational standpoint, you're right, Who cares what the Mormons do. Emotionally, it's offensive. For better or worse, we're not Vulcans.

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