Jewish group wants Mormons to stop proxy baptisms

This is an incredibly interesting article. I had no idea that this went on. I had to read it more than once, just because I didn't pay much attention to anything (meaning journalistic techniques) but the content the first time (since it was so new to me).

The article does seem pretty balanced, with both the side of the Jews and of the Mormons represented. It also answered my questions as they came up, although not all of them. What is the "International Genealogical Index"? I'm assuming it's the records the Mormons keep, but is it strictly for those who have been baptized? Is it for all the names they have? What goes in this record?

I feel like "In May, the Vatican ordered Catholic dioceses worldwide to withhold member registries from Mormons so that Catholics could not be baptized," was a kind of random interjection. This is about the disagreement between the Mormons and Jews. Where and why do Catholics come in?

I was glad to see they specifically said that their authority on whether or not the Jewish names were re-entered didn't have complete access to the records -- "said Radkey, who acknowledges that she has limited access to the records."

This is a very well written piece. It's quite possibly the best piece I've read so far, and I find the topic it specifically addresses very interesting. I really enjoyed it, although I would like to see more religion pieces done by non AP reporters.



http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2008-11-10-jewish-baptisms_N.htm