By ROB WEILER
A once closed case involving a doctrinal conflict between The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Jewish community has come back into the spotlight and raised differing opinions on the issue.
After learning of posthumous baptisms, commonly referred to as baptisms for the dead, performed by the LDS church for hundreds of thousands of deceased Jews, including prominent figures such as Anne Frank and philosopher Theodor Herzl, living Jewish ancestors demanded that the church remove the names from its records.
In a 1995 agreement between the Jewish community and LDS church officials, church leaders agreed to remove all known names of Jewish Holocaust victims from its index, approximately 380,000, unless the names were ancestors of living church members. The agreement also stated future posthumous baptisms for Jews would only be submitted for ancestors of church members. In addition, the church agreed to issue a reminder to church members of its policy to discontinue baptisms of Jewish Holocaust victims, a policy previously announced in 1991.
But Ernest Michel, a Holocaust survivor whose parents have been posthumously baptized, is considering legal action against the church based on information that the church has not complied with the 1995 agreement, continuing to posthumously baptize Jews.
'This is in direct violation of the agreement,' Michel said, 'and this is why we are concerned and why we hope to be able to convince the church to stop it.'
Michel said he has a list of names and baptismal sites where the ordinance took place.
'I have all the information and all the facts which makes it clear, from our point of view, that the church has violated the agreement they signed in 1995,' he said.
The LDS doctrine of posthumous baptism is a practice considered by Jews as offensive. One Jewish man in an editorial to the Deseret Morning News said the word 'baptism' alone was the second ugliest word in the English language, preceded by the word 'gassed' and followed by the word 'raped.'
Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, on the other hand, has offered a different perspective on the actions of the LDS church.
'If the Mormons want to baptize me after my death I have no problem with that because it won't be meaningful to me,' Boteach said. 'What people want to do in the privacy of their own ritual is their business.'
Boteach, a syndicated radio talk-show host in New York and author of books on modern Jewish living, is more concerned about religious issues in the world than issues on church doctrine. Boteach said the more important issue should be about the state of Israel and the LDS church's support for the Jewish community.
'There are many substantive issues that the Jewish community should be speaking about with the Mormon church, and support for Israel is foremost among them,' Boteach said.
After publishing his views last December in the Jerusalem Post and the Deseret Morning News, Boteach said his stance has been received with both supportive and unfavorable responses.
'I think the world Jewish community is pleased that there is a rabbi close to the Mormon church, and there are certainly many others like myself,' he said.
Michel said he has continued to have good relations with church leaders since 1995 and wants to meet with church officials to remove the names rather than take the issue to the courts.
'That will be the last resort,' Michel said. 'We'd like to avoid it.'
LDS church officials wrote a letter to Michel and issued a written statement concerning the lawsuit.
'The components of the Memorandum issued by the Church in 1995 have been complied with assiduously,' the statement reads. 'Expectations for action above and beyond these components derive from misunderstanding or misinterpretation.'
Michel's proof comes from Helen Radkey, an independent researcher in Salt Lake City, who reported over 20,000 names of Jews still in church archives as of 2002.
Boteach's closeness to the LDS church stems from his friendship with Michael Benson, president of Snow College in Ephraim and former classmate at Oxford University.
Also the grandson of former LDS prophet Ezra Taft Benson, Mike Benson has arranged for meetings between Boteach and many church officials, including President Gordon B. Hinckley. The two are also working together to create a center for Jewish studies at Snow College.
'As a Latter-day Saint, I'm encouraged that the church has been very sensitive to the feelings of Jews, particularly those who had ancestors that were killed in the Holocaust,' Benson said.
Benson said he thinks the church has done a good job in dealing with a delicate issue.
'They've tried to walk a challenging line between the two sides and ... have tried to make sure that both sides understand that we believe in our doctrine that all the children of Abraham are the children of promise, and as such they should be treated that way,' he said.
Boteach said his relationship with Benson and observance of the LDS church has made him a fan of Mormonism. He also said he respects BYU students for their adherence to the Honor Code,
'I'm always amazed at how Mormons are attached to their faith,' he said.