SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The Mormons have rededicated themselves to ending the practice of posthumously baptizing Jews, an agreement apparently breached since it was made with Jewish leaders seven years ago, leaders from both religions said yesterday.
At a meeting Tuesday in New York, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints reaffirmed its commitment to removing Holocaust victims and other deceased Jews from its International Genealogical Index, said Ernest Michel, chairman of the World Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors.
The index is a list of some 600 million names used by Mormons to perform ceremonies offering proxy baptisms on behalf of the dead.
Mormon church leaders requested the meeting after several Jewish organizations complained the religion had broken the 1995 agreement to keep dead Jews — including those killed in Nazi concentration camps — from being included in the...