San Jose, CA — Recently, the Mormon Church enacted a new policy labeling same-sex partners as “apostates,” meaning forsaken in the eyes of their God. Even more vile, the religion extends this mistreatment to children, claiming that children from these households are not worthy of blessings or membership in their church.
This is nothing more than a thinly-veiled attempt to shame and bully children for the lifestyle choices of their families. It is as repugnant as when they declared that individuals with black skin could not receive their priesthood, which they enforced until 1978 when cultural pressure demanded they change the policy. It seems that the Mormon Church has learned nothing from their mistake. The members of The Satanic Temple feel that it is time to meet these injustices with an equal level of activism.
For decades, the Mormon Church has performed a ritual they call the baptism for the dead, a practice where a proxy “stand in” is used to baptize someone who has passed away. The Church targets people of any faith or belief system, and the ritual is considered a valid attempt at converting the person to the Mormon faith. People who have been baptized posthumously include Genghis Khan, former Popes, and those who have died in the Holocaust.
While the Church claims that it only performs these rituals at the bequest of family members, there are hundreds – if not thousands – of instances where this has not been the case. The goal of the Church is to baptize every deceased human they possibly can, no matter what that person’s spiritual preferences were in life. The Church keeps detailed genealogical histories of both members and non-members, so that it may perform these ceremonies on the dead.
“We wanted to let the Church know that their assault on human dignity is unacceptable,” said Xepher Asche, Director of Communications for The Satanic Temple – San Jose Chapter. “By performing baptisms of the dead on known atheists, skeptics, and individuals of other faiths, they are violating the memory of those who died. This is an injustice that demands opposition.”
Though the Mormon Church claims the spirit of the deceased can “refuse” the ritual, we feel this is a poor justification used only after the violation has already occurred. By creating the baptismoptout registry, The Satanic Temple gives a person the ability to ensure their religious liberties are upheld while they are still alive.
Asche states, “By creating this registry, we have ensured that the LDS Church will need to check in with The Satanic Temple before performing their baptism for the dead, or risk violating the direct wishes of those they seek to convert.”
The Satanic Temple (TST) is an atheistic religious organisation that uses the symbol of Satan to inspire civic justice. Its members note that it felt the need to intervene because the Mormon Church has failed to address this issue themselves. Jedediah Schadenfreude, Chapter Head of The Satanic Temple – San Jose Chapter, states, “We would rather not have to do this. We created this registry in lieu of a responsible opt out option provided by the Mormon Church.”
The registry was created by The Satanic Temple – San Jose Chapter. All questions concerning the registry can be directed to Xepher Asche.
The spokesperson for The Satanic Temple is Lucien Greaves.