I'm With Jay Tea

Wizbang's Jay Tea has stirred up an unlikely debate over Mormom baptism of the dead. It seems that the Mormon church has been post-humously baptising people for years without the knowledge or consent of the relatives of the deceased (and, naturally, the deceased him/herself). Dean and Rusty don't see the problem.

I'm not religious in the slightest, but if someone tried to baptise me when I'm lying there trying to get a good dirt nap I'd be pissed. Jay Tea put it best: I'm a huge believer in freedom of religion, but I've always thought that a key element of that concept was the right to be free FROM religion.

I get pissed off when religious folk try to make me see the light. I don't like the way they look at me like I'm some naive fool. Feel free to believe whatever you want, but just keep it out of my house, OK? If I choose one day to accept Jesus as my saviour it'll be on my own terms, not because a priest tells me to, or some ass in a cheap suit knocks on my door and sells me God like a set of encyclopedias.

Look, it's very simple. If you're Jewish and you find out your Dad was baptised as a Mormon after his death of course you won't be happy with it. Who would? These guys aren't just making some wishy washy blessings for you. They're swearing you in to the Mormon church. I've never been to Utah but as far as I've heard Mormon Central ain't no party I want to go to. Not only are they making you a post-mortem Mormon (try saying that ten times) they're insulting your faith. They're saying you were wrong to believe what you believed. Sure, they may have the best intentions but that doesn't make it any less annoying.

It would be the same deal for an atheist such as myself. I've made my choice and I'm sticking to it. If I die and show up in Mormon heaven someone's getting a beating.

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Aaron, SobekPundit, Bogus Gold.

Update

In response to a few comments I'd like to clarify: I understand that they don't actually exhume a body and dip it in a font. That isn't the point.

Jay Tea, I believe, puts it best in his absolute final word on the matter:

The Mormon Position: "We're only doing this because we care about you. If we're right, you'll thank us. If we're wrong, there's no real harm. So, what's the problem?"

The Jewish Position: "Regardless of your motives, we find it distasteful and offensive. Besides, whenever in our history people do things to us 'for our own good,' it almost inevitably turns out bad for us. Especially when it involves making lists of us. So please stop."