Where’s the controversy here? Mormons only do baptisms for the dead because they consider all non-Mormon baptisms to be ineffective and void. Likewise, Catholics consider Mormon proxy baptisms (and, primarily due to a denial of an eternal, triune Godhead, their “normal” ones, too) to be invalid. This constitutes a “tie.” Till now, Catholics haven’t publicly considered Mormon proxy baptisms to be a direct, intentional slight to us or anyone else, despite the obvious implications of them. Perhaps the Mormons need to look at this in the same way. The mutually considered “invalidlity” of the other’s baptismal practices offsets any umbrage-taking. Let’s move on.
The dead cannot be baptized, so this is a moot point. Furthermore, the Catholic Church and most orthodox Protestants have never considered Mormon baptisms to be valid, because they are not Trinitarian Christians and essentially have a different intention in baptizing.
This is all about inflating Mormon statistics. Muslims - and Islam is a heresy that is very, very similar to Mormonism - assert that everybody was born Muslim, and therefore they can consider themselves to be the majority, which the press happily believes. The Mormons assert that they have some huge numerical majority, and while I have seen them all over the place in Europe “evangelizing,” I have actually met only one native European Mormon. I’m sure there are more, but the point is that Mormons are very canny and are trying to use this as a media war.
It’s a pity. Mormons (the LDS, that is, who of course were forced by the US government to adopt American standards if they wanted Utah to be part of the Union) are trying very hard to be Christians, and many of them assert that they are like any other Protestant group. That is, somehow the Faith disappeared for 1500 years and then reemerged with their particular “reformer.” The Mormons, of course, think it disappeared until the 19th century, but heck, what’s a few hundred years among reformers.
That said, when their “reform” occurred, they rejected the Trinity, do not regard Jesus as the Son, and like the Muslims, have a “prophet” that trumps everything else. The only thing that prevents them from truly following their prophet, as the Muslims follow their prophet, is that the US forced them to abandon some of their prophet’s practices, and there are some in the Mormon community who actually want to be standard Protestant Christians and are trying to reject that ugly heritage.
Baptizing the dead is simply a way of inflating their head count, and while it has no effect, it makes them look a lot more important than they are. Personally, I think the real battle is going to come with the clash between their “prophet” and Islam’s “prophet.” Both of them had similar beliefs, but obviously, there’s only room in this world for one “final prophet.”