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July 23, 2009 3:28 PM

Mormons May Have Baptized More Obama Relatives

(CBS/Dan Baruch)
Earlier this week, in conjunction with President Obama's meeting with Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints leader Thomas Monson, Hotsheet noted a potentially awkward topic of conversation in the Oval Office: The unauthorized posthumous baptism into the Mormon faith of Mr. Obama's mother.

Now comes a report that Stanley Ann Dunham may not have been the only relative of the president to have been baptized into the church after death. The Salt Lake Tribune reports that Mr. Obama's father, grandfather and great-grandfather may also have had a baptism ritual performed for them as well.

A researcher named Helen Radkey reportedly found records in the church's FamilySearch database that included personal identification numbers for Mr. Obama's father and other relatives. It is not clear whether an actual "baptism for the dead" ceremony was performed.

"Baptizing Obama's African relatives, or putting their names in the LDS temple system for them to be posthumously baptized, is offensive because it sends a wrongful message that Obama's ancestors were of inferior religious stock," Radkey told the paper.

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Tags:
Mormons ,
LDS ,
Barack Obama ,
Baptism ,
Father
Topics:
Barack Obama
July 20, 2009 12:15 PM

Will Mother's Baptism Come Up At Obama's Mormon Meeting?

(CBS/Dan Baruch)
Updated 3:35 p.m. ET

President Obama will meet Monday afternoon with Thomas Monson, the head of the Mormon church, also known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS).*

The chair of the church's genealogical committee, Elder Dallin Oaks, will also be present at the meeting, CBS News White House correspondent Mark Knoller reports. According to the White House, LDS leaders have in the past offered presidents detailed records of their family history.

But there is a bit of family history that might be glossed over at the meeting: The posthumous baptism of the president's mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, into the Mormon faith.

Dunham died of cancer in 1995. Blogger John Aravosis, using the LDS Web site FamilySearch.org, discovered records earlier this year indicating that someone had baptized Dunham into the church on June 4th of last year, the day after Mr. Obama secured the Democratic presidential nomination.

The church later confirmed that the baptism had taken place, but said that it had been improper; LDS spokeswoman Kim Farah emailed a statement to news organizations saying that baptizing the dead "is a sacred practice to us" but that "it is counter to Church policy for a Church member to submit names for baptism for persons to whom they are not related."

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Tags:
mormons ,
barack obama ,
baptism of the dead ,
LDS ,
baptism ,
Stanley Ann Dunham
Topics:
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