This was posted on another list...and I found it very informative...I knew this fact at one time, but had forgotten all about it...I'm NOT posting my opinion on this subject as I don't want to get into any debate on religion, but I do feel all should be aware of the facts and then make your own decision about donating your genealogy information to the LDS church... Fran Namotka Fellow Mailing-List Members: If you're interested in genealogy and you use any product or service provided by the LDS (Mormon) Church, please read the following. I wrote this brief explanation for you! I'm neutral on the topic of the LDS Church (Mormons), but I think people should be aware of the reason why this organization is so deeply involved in genealogy. It's true that the LDS Church is not involved in genealogy for financial profit. They don't need to be: they're by far the wealthiest Christian denomination in the US (they own everything from vast tracts of invaluable real estate to multi-million dollar corporations all over the world). But the Mormons DO profit from genealogy in another way, one that may seem quite nefarious and repulsive to some. Everyone reading this should pause for a moment and ask themselves the following questions: 1) Why would a RELIGIOUS group of all things offer dozens of genealogical services for next to nothing, put a web site on the Internet with a free on-line genealogy search engine, and even give away free genealogy products (like PAF, etc.)? 2) Why do the Mormons do such an "outstanding job" at preserving people's genealogy? 3) Why are the volunteers at the church's Family History Centers "so helpful" when it comes to aiding us in researching our families? 4) And why, as someone else put it, will they so gladly "take whatever information you have, microfilm it, store it, and index it so it can be ordered for use free of charge through the Family History Centers"? We live in a world today where one cannot afford to be naive. If you're one of those who thinks that the members of the LDS Church do all of these things for no other reason than to be charitable Christians, you're ignoring one of Jesus' most important (but neglected) teachings: to "be as wise as a serpent" (Matthew 10:16). The actual reason the LDS Church is involved in genealogy has to do with one of its religious doctrines, actually an ancient Pagan rite called "baptism for the dead." To understand why the Mormons adopted this Pagan concept (in the 1800s) you must first be aware of the following fact: Mormons believe that unless you're baptized into THEIR faith, you cannot "go to Heaven," or become a god or goddess of your own planet (one of their principle teachings). Yes, this means YOU!!! Even if you're a saintly Episcopalian who is totally content with your current faith, Mormons believe you're doomed unless you convert to theirs. Those who fail to do so while they're alive (which is 99.99% of the world's population!!) get a "second chance" after death with the Mormon's "baptism for the dead," now a kind of Masonic ritual performed in an assembly-line like manner, everyday, every hour, in Mormon temples around the world. Since one of the Mormon's main precepts is to convert the entire world to Mormonism, they need members, and lots of them. But where to get them? Even their aggressive missionary program could never baptize enough converts quickly enough to fulfill this goal. The answer? Gather the names of the deceased and baptize them. And where to get lots of names of deceased people? From people's family trees! Are you starting to get the picture yet? The problem is of course that after you're dead, you have no choice as to whether you want to be baptized a Mormon or not. Obviously most people would "just say no" if offered the chance. But Mormons will baptize your 17th-Century atheist ancestor from Scotland just as quickly and easily as they would baptize one of their own (8-year old) children. They only need a person's name to baptize them. Not the surviving family's permission. Apparently there are no laws prohibiting the Mormons' baptism for the dead, probably because so few non-Mormons actually realize what it really means. To put it in plain terms: EVERY single person in every family tree that is submitted to the LDS Church ends up being baptized (by proxy) into the Mormon Church! Please think about this: even if you're a faithful Catholic, Wiccen, Hindu, Baptist, Muslim, Jainist, Shaker, Methodist, Buddhist, or Druid, if after you pass away your name ends up in the LDS Genealogy Department, you WILL absolutely be baptized into this faith, making you a legal member of the Mormon Church. Many (most) devout Mormons are obssessed with this doctrine, and spend every spare moment helping to gather new names for baptism, or actually participating in the ritual itself - all of this despite the fact that Saint Paul considered "baptism for the dead" a worthless Pagan concept, and one that should be avoided (1 Corinthians 15:26-34)! But Paul also preached against genealogy (1 Timothy 1:4; Titus 3:9), but we'll save that topic for another time! Dr. D. MacTavish