Andrew Sullivan finds the Mormon practice of baptizing dead non-Mormons offensive:

 It’s deeply disrespectful to and invasive of other faiths to be posthumously coopted in this fashion.

Really? I’m not seeing it. I welcome Mormons baptizing my dead relatives. Why? Because not being Mormon, I believe it is an empty ritual that changes nothing in the world of the spirit. But if the Mormons are right — which, again, I don’t think they are — then they are doing my dead relations an extreme kindness. And that is the light in which I think the Mormon practice should be seen: as an act of generosity. I don’t think what they do has any effect whatsoever, but the fact that they believe it does, and are willing to perform a ritual they believe will make life easier for my kinfolks in the afterlife, is a gift.

Honestly, I don’t understand why anybody would care about this. If Mormons were engaged in an act that they believed would bring curses on the souls of my ancestors, or on the living, I would still believe them to be empty rituals, but they would also be overtly hostile acts. However misguided, the Mormons engaged in posthumous baptisms are trying to be kind, according to the dictates of their religion. Everybody chill.

UPDATE: It’s interesting to contemplate that Andrew object to the Mormon practice of posthumous baptism “disrespectful to and invasive of other faiths,” yet believes the Catholic Church, of which he is a communicant, ought to be compelled by the US government to subsidize contraception. Hmm…