Mormons Posthumously Baptized Daniel Pearl Without His Family’s Consent

Daniel Pearl — the journalist who was abducted and murdered in Pakistan in 2002 — is now the focus of a story about posthumous Mormon baptisms. According to records discovered in Utah, Pearl was baptized last year without his wife’s or parent’s consent.

The ritual of posthumous Mormon baptisms is intended to give the deceased access to salvation.

RELATED: Mormons Posthumously Baptized Simon Wiesenthal’s Parents…And President Obama’s Mother

During a CNN segment on Monday, Mariane Pearl, Daniel Pearl’s widow, said it’s a problem that the church did not seek out permission from his family. She said:

If you had honest intention the least you would do is contact the family and explain what is going on, and why you would want to do that, and seek their approval. I think that would be the normal course of things. So the fact that the church didn’t find it necessary to do these kinds of things and to be respectful, really, to his parents, I think, is a problem.

Helen Radkey, a former Mormon who discovered the story, said she is “incensed” that the ritual was “done behind the backs of Daniel’s widow and his parents.”

The Mormon church had recently apologized when similar cases were disclosed. The church has also said they don’t know who’s to blame, but that they’ve told congregations worldwide to stop the practice.

Watch the segment, via CNN:

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