WTF?! Okay, well then I'll just copy & paste!
Here we go:
FAITH OF OUR FATHERS: Understanding, to be understood
I write this to address an issue that has come up; one that touches on very deep, primal emotions, that renders us vulnerable and exposed, and that forces us to confront ourselves in the mirror. I have stood on both sides of this issue, and I write now my own thoughts, to address the questions and the emotions that have been aroused, in the hopes of providing some sense of understanding, where now we flail and grasp at straws moving past one another.
To understand the concept of "Baptism for the Dead", one must first look at it in the religious context from whence it comes. The Mormon church claims to have the full gospel of Jesus Christ; as such, it alone claims to have the authority to baptize people in his name. No other church, by their claim, can effectively do so. Based on that premise, the authority to baptize extends not only to the living, but to those who are deceased. For a believer, this provides an opportunity for those who were not baptized while they were living, to be able to obtain all the ordinances the Mormon church claims is necessary for them to obtain the "celestial kingdom", the highest of three tiers of 'glory', and ideally, the goal of everyone. The goal is attainable only through baptism and the ordinances provided through the Mormon church, indeed, salvation itself is only realized through obtaining the celestial kingdom. Performing these baptisms for the deceased, then, is central and essential for members of the Mormon church, and explains why such great emphasis is placed upon them. As a former adherent of the Mormon faith, I myself did this for several of my deceased family members. My heart and intent were focused on what I believed was best for them; I loved my family, and did the best I could with the knowledge and understanding that I had.
Having said that, I will point out that this was done within and for my own immediate family. What is seen as an opportunity and a blessing by some, is an ENORMOUS offense and insult for many who are not adherents of the Mormon faith, in particular, those living relatives and descendants of Holocaust survivors, Jews, and others who have found out that deceased family members were baptized without their knowledge or permission.
The baptism and additional ordinances deemed necessary by the LDS church are perhaps more keenly offensive to the Jewish faith and tradition than any other. Those who perished in the death camps of Europe were martyred merely for the fact of their faith; that alone seals their names in the Book Of Life. To have a proxy baptism performed by a living person for a deceased Jew in a Mormon temple is, symbolically, a repudiation of everything that Jewish person lived, and in many cases, died for. In addition, throughout history, Jews have been forcibly baptized into other religions and made to renounce theirs: the "Conversos" were Jews who were forced to become Catholics in order to live freely and safely in the Spanish kingdom. Many were still burned at the stake, even after conversion, under suspicion that they had not "truly" converted and were still secretly sympathetic to, and observing the rituals of, the faith of their fathers. Also, in many Muslim countries, Jews found that there were few avenues available to them unless they converted to Islam. There too, although the Muslim community afforded greater leeway to Jews than Catholic Europe, they frequently came under suspicion again if it seemed they were not orthodox enough in their adherence to the newer faith. For these reasons, the forced baptism while alive, becomes injustice anew, when the baptism for the deceased is 'forced' upon them by proxy, via a living person. Once again, their Jewish identity is stripped from them, and Rachel weeps for her children, as the Torah has said.
The argument has been made that for the deceased themselves, it is a moot issue: they don't care, or at least, we can't really call them on a celestial iPhone and ask them what they think of all this. We can argue the benefits, the pointlessness, or absurdity of so-called "necro-dunking" ad infinitum on the part of the deceased; what is NOT arguable or negotiable are the wishes and feelings of living family members and relatives of those for whom these baptisms and related works are done. Those who feel that their lives, their faiths, their feelings, their memories, are not important. Are deemed "inferior" somehow, lacking, in the eyes of those who proceed with their work.
And here indeed, is the crux of the matter. It does not matter if you are in "the right", or believe yourself to be. It does not matter if you claim to have been given the mandate to baptize every man, woman, and child that has ever lived in order to provide them with 'salvation'. That may or may not be; the undeniable fact is that 99.99% of the earth's population does not believe this, and some, at least, of that 99.99% find it insulting, insensitive, insupportable, invasive, and objectionable. None more so than the very people with whom the Mormon community has most frequently identified in its own brief but turbulent history, the Jews. For more than two decades the plea has been made to stop doing this. For more than two decades, each time the plea is made, the promise is given. Then broken. Then given again. Then broken again. And so on, and so forth, and here we are, in this shameful situation.
Seeing recent events play out on the stage before us is much like seeing a squabble unfolding on a school playground. No matter how well intentioned you may be, you can't go to the sandbox, impose your rules on everyone else, take away their toys, demand to be liked, and then complain that nobody will play with you. I say this as someone who went along with the game in the sandbox for 22 years, and who knows and loves the children playing there. Believe, by all means, what you will. That is the privilege of worship. Do what you must for your own, but we can no longer play this game.
You know the rule: if you can't solve the problem on your own, someone else will step in and solve it for you. And when that happens........it's time to call it a day.
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