What is baptism for the dead and why is it so controversial?

Genghis Khan, Buddha, Nazi Hunter Simon Weisenthal, and Pope John Paul II share something in common; they have been posthumously baptized by the Mormon Church.

It's simple: if you want to go to heaven, you must be baptized. If you die first, there is still hope. Someone can stand as your proxy, get baptized for you, and give you another chance to accept Christ in the afterlife.

At least that is how the Latter Day Saints see things. Better known as Mormons, they also consider family the foundation of a rewarding hereafter and therefore maintain one of the world's most extensive genealogical indices, which church members use to identify unbaptized ancestors.

Though it doesn't end with relatives. Through proxies, Mormons have baptized Joan of Arc, Mao Zedong, Adolf Hitler, and an unknown number of Jewish victims of the Holocaust.

Which is part of the controversy. Ernest Michel's parents died at Auschwitz. And as honorary chairman of The American Gathering of Holocaust Survivors, he wants the LDS to abide by a 1995 agreement to respect Jewish tradition and stop putting Jewish names up for baptism.

But this hasn't happened, as illustrated by the recent appearance of famed Nazi Hunter Simon Weisenthal on the baptism list.

Mormon representatives say they are doing their best to limit the practice to relatives of converts. They also say proxy baptism is fundamental to Mormon beliefs, something other faiths should respect. And besides, if you don't believe in it, what's the difference?

For Michel, a great deal. In November 2008, he reiterated that the revised records could play into the hands of Holocaust deniers. Although Jewishness per se cannot be altered, once baptized and entered into the LDS database, his ancestors could one day be identified as Mormon victims of the holocaust.

The Vatican is likewise displeased. Citing privacy and theological reasons, it issued a directive in 2008 that dioceses withhold records from the Mormons dispatched to copy them.

But Mormons will no doubt continue to try. Mormonism is one of the world's fastest growing religions; new converts will want to baptize deceased family members. Which means this controversy will likely be around for years to come.

For Faith and Friction, this is Sattar and Yates.