Quote:
| Under the 1995 agreement, the church directed its members not to include the names of unrelated persons, celebrities and unapproved groups, such as Jewish Holocaust victims, for its "baptisms for the dead," according to documents provided by the LDS Church. The church also assumes that the closest living relative of the deceased being offered for proxy baptism has consented. "It did not guarantee that no future vicarious baptisms for deceased Jews would occur," church papers say of the agreement. Church leaders, who were preparing for the Saturday funeral of Marjorie Pay Hinckley, wife of LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley, were not available for comment Friday. In a Nov. 14, 2003, letter from church Elder D. Todd Christofferson to Michel, a copy of which was sent to Hatch, Christofferson said the church did not agree to find and remove the names of all deceased Jews in its database. "That would be an impossible undertaking," Christofferson wrote. However, 400,000 names of Holocaust victims were removed and the church continues to delete names when asked. When asked whether that was the case, church spokesman Dale Bills said before the microfilming of records begins, "we clearly inform custodians of genealogical records who we are and what use we will make of the filmed records. Such discussion is a standard element of all negotiations with record-holding organizations." Mokotoff, who was directly involved in the 1995 agreement with the LDS Church, said he believes church officials agreed to stop the practice as a result of understanding that sensitivity. He said many people have subsequently "mischaracterized the agreement." "Since 1995, everything they have promised to do they have done." Complaints to the contrary "aren't true," he said. Motokoff says he accesses LDS Church records online about 10 times a year and has personally made requests to have Jewish names removed from the records. He knows of others who have done the same.Every time he has checked to see if the names were removed, "I have found they were honoring their agreement" and the names are removed "quite quickly — within days." Motokoff says he occasionally gets claims from people who say such legendary Jewish figures as David Ben Gurion, Sigmund Freud and Albert Einstein are still listed, but "that was only true prior to 1995. There's a misconception that the church is obligated to scour the IGI looking for Jewish names — but the agreement states only that if they are made aware of it they will delete the names." The church issued its press release early Friday, with a statement from Elder Christofferson saying that "Surely no one believes this practice forces a change in religious identity of any soul, living or dead. We certainly do not claim that." That statement, and others regarding the doctrinal rationale for LDS proxy baptism, was deleted from a corrected copy of the release issued later in the day. |
The truth is the church is doing everything to not upset others but still doing what they beleive. The church has the upmost respect for other churchs and people. To think the church would do something to purpously anger and upset others is misguided.
