So what if there's freedom in the constitution to practice religion; 'tis also freedom in the constitution to critique it...now why did I have to say something so simple? ('Cause you resorted to something so simple)
As for the "harming anyone" question -- something brought up by BigEdLB ... keep reading below:
There are plenty of things that one can criticize Romney for, but, to jump on a religious procedure which causes no physical harm to anyone is a diversion in this year with all the other things that are going on. [BigEdLB]
Millions of Mormon man-hours -- Genealogy -- is rooted in baptizing dead people. Now, genealogy for "roots-searching" is fine, but when "genealogy as ultra time consuming religious obsession" takes over, wouldn't you say it might be good to consider what the apostle Paul has to say about this?
Or do you all just ignore the New Testament?
...stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain men not to teach false doctrines any longer nor to devote themselves to myths AND ENDLESS GENEALOGIES. THESE PROMOTE CONTROVERSIES RATHER THAN GOD'S WORK—which is by faith." (1 Timothy 1:3-4)
But AVOID FOOLISH CONTROVERSIES AND GENEALOGIES...because these are unprofitable and useless. (Titus 3:9)
(Paul says it's useless, provokes controversy, and is not faith-promoting. So even the controversy ignited by protagonist Mormons is distracting)
As for the question, "Does this 'hurt' anyone?" yes it does -- in two prominent ways covered below.
ONE It hurts the living because over-focusing on the dead distracts what we can do in relating to & in caring for the living!.
We can all agree that Jesus talked much about serving the living -- the poor, the widow, the orphan, the lost sheep, right?
So what would happen in the world if all religions obsessed with the dead as much as Mormons do? Obviously, we're not going to "end poverty in our lifetime" (Jesus said, "the poor will always be with you")...but since countless LDS leaders have called the Mormon people self-saviors and saviors of the dead, it's not only a distraction from the poor but delusional.
And that leads to...
We already have a "Savior of the world" -- we don't need millions more trying to bump Jesus out of that limelight:
* And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be THE Savior of the world. (1 John 4:14)
* They said to the woman, "We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is THE Savior of the world." (John 4:42)
Last time I looked in the Bible, Christians were supposed to object to idolatry in their culture. And if you don't think that Mormons make baptizers of the dead "saviors" who rival Jesus Christ, you haven't read their leaders' comments on baptism of the dead. For those citations, see: Are Mormon people LITERAL saviors of dead Jews, others? (The OTHER World Series: Vanity)
If you're a Christian or Jew and you conclude "this doesn't harm anyone," you're catering to idolatry -- substitute "saviors" pretending to act in his name.
I had just read the posting you have posted and if my memory is correct, my church, the Roman Catholic Church put out a rule from the Vatican a couple of years ago to parishes that when it comes to baptism certificates, not to give them out in bulk numbers because they were asked for by Mormons who would used them to baptized their dead Catholic ancestors.
OK - You have your beliefs, and I have mine...
Nobody, at least not me, objects to their right to criticize. My problem is that I don't see the problem at all.
My second problem is that while I'm not particularly offended, I get annoyed at people who let their ethnic, religious, or political sensitivities rule their responses. But certainly they have the right to do so.
As for your other objections, well "harm" covers a lot of ground. There are opportunity costs to everything. So what? This is their cost, just like when I choose to go see a movie instead of doing yard workk,improving my mind,or going fishing.
As for Mormonism being a false religion, I think we can agree on that. But even God permits people to worship idols in this world. Not that they won't pay for it later.
The point is that the Mormons have the right to do what they do. It's not as if they are worshipping Baal and sacrificing children. The Jews that object have a perfect right to do so. I just find it whiny, and evidence of a victim mentality. If you have confidence in your views, you don't really care what others think of them.
You have every right to be offended, it’s one of the freedoms we enjoy, and a lot of people spend their lives looking for ways to be offended.
It would give me a good laugh to find out that I was the subject of a curse, the target of some voodoo ritual, or somehow a family member was the object of a false baptism.
I laugh at it, you are free to get offended.
Neither one matters.
I do not say that what the Mormons are doing is right. What I say is that in society we must tolerate stupid things in order to protect our rights to evangalize when people get their feelings hurt or think we are “idol worshiping”.
Think.