Barack Obama’s Mom Posthumously Baptized As Mormon

There is a report out this week that, during 2008 Presidential campaign, Stanley Ann Dunham, Barack Obama’s mother, was posthumously baptized into the Mormon faith. The proxy rite was performed in June 2008.

These rites have caused controversy in past years, particularly in the baptism of Holocaust survivors. The Church has tried to quell the fervor by promising to limit baptisms by proxy to requests from direct descendants.

LDS spokeswoman Kim Farrah issued the following statement: “The offering of baptism to our deceased ancestors is a sacred practice to us and it is counter to Church policy for a Church member to submit names for baptism for persons to whom they are not related. The Church is looking into the circumstances of how this happened and does not yet have all the facts. However, this is a serious matter and we are treating it as such.”

Of course, David Axelrod may view this differently . . . as the first hope that Obama could carry Utah in 2012.

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