The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints uses genealogy for its religious beliefs, hence its monumental efforts with the FamilySearch.org website and many other impressive projects. The Daily Mail has an article today on how this is being politicised in the United States just now, as part of the process to elect a Republican candidate for the forthcoming presidential election campaign. The target is Mitt Romney, who is apparently a Mormon.
Personally I couldn't care less about the church's religious beliefs, or any church's religious beliefs for that matter, as I am not at all religious - my idea of an afterlife is the preservation of the family history for future generations, so I am on a messianic mission of my own to find it all before I pop my clogs! I do, however, have a heck of a lot of admiration for what the Mormon church is doing in terms of its genealogical programme, as they kindly make their findings available for free. I am fascinated by the workings of churches, and their histories, however, and if the article is right, I've learned something new about the Latter Day Saints.
I know the Mormons believe in 'sealing ordinances', a ritual whereby family relationships are preserved for all eternity - a married couple can have their relationship 'sealed', for example, but a child can also be 'sealed' to its parents. They also have a programme of 'vicarious baptism', the process of posthumously baptising the dead by the use of modern day proxies, in order to guarantee that a soul can gain entry into Heaven etc. To find out who all these people are, they need to do the research - hence the interest in genealogy.
Another fact that is often quoted about Mormons is the use of polygamous marriages, which certainly used to be the case in the 19th century, though no longer the case today. According to the Mail, however, the church is posthumously marrying couples long after they have died, and more than once, with many different partners! I have no idea if this is the case, or whether the reporter has been mixing up his sealing ordinances - I certainly don't recall seeing any plural marriages on the IGI for my tree that weren't backed up with the right certificates!
In any case, it's an interesting article in the 'newspaper' (sorry, it is the Mail!), but has a slight whiff of with JFK being the first Catholic president, now it's the Mormons' turn. Read it for yourself at www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2107396/How-Diana-baptised-Mormon.html - oh, and as it's the Mail, it obviously features Diana in the headline! :)
Chris
Personally, I could not care less if they have 100 wives, even today, as long as all the parties are consenting adults etc, where's the harm? Not something I would do, but whatever makes you happy etc. And yes, if a Mormon can prove the Spencers are part of their family, then i don't doubt that Diana has now been baptised a Mormon. However my childlike belief is this. Presumably, when you die, you go to Heaven and are sitting around up there with God, playing Trivial Persuit, or whatever. You find out you have been posthumously baptised into the Mormon faith, and you don't fancy it much, prefer to stay C of E, Catholic or whatever. Can't you just have a word with the Big Boss himself, he's right there? In other words, the soul can reject the baptism if they so choose, which I believe is what the Mormons believe anyway...so no harm done, as far as I can see. And, if there IS a God...may he bless the Mormons for giving me free access to genealogy records, and long may it continue!
ReplyDeleteI suspect God would have an unfair advantage with Trivial Pursuit - being omnipotent and all that...! lol
ReplyDeleteChris
If they marry me off when I'm dead, please, may I have Colin Firth, Paul Gross, and George Clooney? Mmmm.
ReplyDelete