You may have seen the story about what happened with Mitt Romney’s father-in-law about a year after he died. The Romney family decided to posthumously baptize him into the Mormon faith. No big deal, you say? What’s the harm, you ask? Well, Edward Davies was an avowed atheist for his entire adult life, and had no use for religion. But Ann Romney allowed her husband and his family to disregard her own father’s lack of beliefs and perform some bullshit ceremony claiming him for their church a year after he was in his grave.
I find this absolutely disgusting on several levels. First, there is the absurdity that after someone dies, you can actually place them into any particular faith. Screw that whole free will thing and making your own decisions about what you do and don’t believe. Then there is the unbelievable arrogance of Romney’s family deciding that they know best about how to handle Davies’ afterlife.
But what really, really burns my bacon about this is that they would so disrespect this man’s intellect, individuality, and his ability to make his own informed decision. It was a big “screw you” to the guy after he couldn’t fight back—which also strikes me as quite cowardly. I don’t doubt that they tried to preach to him while he was alive, and when he refused to buy into their silly religion, they waited until after he died and THEN they pounced on him and claimed his ‘soul’ for their own.
It would be like when my Dad died, if I went to the family and said, “Okay, I know Dad was a man of Christian faith, but I think we should say that he was a pagan and have that kind of ceremony.” No, it’s even worse than that...it’s like if KEN had gone to my family and said that’s what he thought we should do. Either scenario is inexcusable and my family would have been right to tell us both to shut up and never dare to mention it again.
I find myself almost as appalled at the Davies family for going along with this. If anyone dared to suggest such a thing concerning my Dad, I think I would have lost it. And when I lose my temper, you’d best be afraid. Be very afraid. How the Davies family could have sat by and let this happen is beyond me. What a horrible disregard for how the man felt and how he lived his life.
Ken knows my wishes for when it’s my turn to bite the dust. If anyone tried to subjugate those wishes and force some sort of ceremony on me that I wouldn’t want, I know he’d stand up for me and make sure it doesn’t happen. If that happened to me, I’d come back and haunt whoever was responsible, and I’d do it in a really scary way. (I suppose I should point out that that is a joke. I have seen no evidence of ghosts.)
I wasn’t going to vote for Mittens, anyway...obviously. Before it was because I completely disagree with his current stances* (the universal health care and support for same sex marriage in Massachusetts was pretty cool...but he doesn’t like that stuff anymore) and find him an insincere panderer who will do and say just about anything to get elected; he’s someone who has no concept whatsoever of how average Americans are struggling to put food on the table, keep a roof over their heads, and manage to avoid bankruptcy because they didn’t have health insurance—or good enough health insurance—and couldn’t pay their medical bills after they had to deal with breast cancer or their child’s leukemia. (Just an example, of course. Nothing specific in mind, other than people I know who have had to deal with similar situations.)
No, he’s given me another reason to despise him. He didn’t care about his father-in-law’s wishes, and didn’t give a fuck about the guy’s thought processes and right to make his own decisions. All he cared about was adding another name to the roster of bogus conversions to his bogus religion. Shame on you, Mittens. You deserve a squirt with a water bottle! A really big, high-pressure water bottle.
*Current stances subject to change without notice. Candidate not responsible for any dissatisfaction experienced upon abrupt change of direction in policy. Side effects may include dizziness, heart palpitations, loss of libido, nausea, and projectile vomiting. Do not combine with teabagging. Massive quantities of alcohol can ease side effects. Please see your doctor if you experience any of these symptoms, or if you remain conservative longer than four years. Prolonged exposure can cause abrupt head explosion.
... glad this entry came with the warning attached..!
ReplyDeleteI am with you all the way on this, Beth... that has been a worry of mine my entire adult life that someone would make a mockery of my death in a like fashion... I tell people that I would come back and haunt them and I would not be a happy ghost either..!
But the entire field on the Rethug side have some of the worst PERSONAL qualities that any group of candidates have had collectively in my lifetime... they are the worst group of human beings to aspire to the presidency... EVAH..!
I'm pretty sure the statute of limitations for salvation expires once one stops breathing! This just goes to show how stupid Mittens and his ilk of magic-bra-wearing freaks really are!
ReplyDeleteReligion is about what you believe, not what others believe about you! If the man drew his last breath believing he is an atheist, then an atheist he is- and no amount of praying, chanting, or panty changing is going to make a difference!
I wouldn't presume this was in any way the Romney's idea. This was the church's idea. Posthumous baptism has been a long tradition in the Mormon religion, and I'm pretty sure Mitt and Mrs. Romney were pressured into allowing it by their church elders. I wouldn't condemn them for this, except in that I condemn them for being silly, superstitious, believing sots in the first place.
ReplyDeleteIt wasn't the family. It is part of the doctrine for every human believing to baptism into the LSD faith within two years of their death. That's why they have such detailed records of most families history.
ReplyDeleteBlame whoever you want here. It doesn't matter who it was or who coerced whom...the entire episode is abhorrent to me. ALL are guilty of disrespecting this man. Their church condones this tactic, the Romneys support it, and the Davies family allowed it.
ReplyDeleteembarrassingly, i knew next to nothing about Mormonism until Sept. 2011, when we went to AZ to see my mom. My uncle drove us by a multi million dollar Mormon temple in Mesa, AZ. It was GORGEOUS....AMAZING to look at and like nothing, quite honestly, that i have ever seen before.
ReplyDeletehe asked me what i knew about Mormons. I said, "well, nothing". My uncle is a Christian....and he says, "well, basically, Mormonism is a cult" and he spent about a half hour telling me what some dude named Dave wrote his own Bible and all these other Americans started to read that dude's book and call it a religion. All the Mormons are to go out and help others and then recruit those they just helped to be a part of their cult. That is the short version.
you know me. I looked at my uncle and said, "that is a load of shit! WTH....it makes no sense to me". It never will. My brother wrote on my FB last week that the religious beliefs of a candidate should not matter to us all....and he used JFK as an example. Well, i can not vote for any person who is a part of a cult. I see Mitt as a complete phony on many levels.
I loved your entry. You say it the way i think it.
It looks like Mittsy and The Mormons have missed the whole point about belief systems.
ReplyDeleteYou can't MAKE someone change their faith, or lack thereof, in life, so they do it after death?
Sickening.
Now, now, Beth. They just wanted Pops to have a shot at his very own planet. Rather sweet, really, in a totally brain-washed, sheep-headed, dogma-mongering way.
ReplyDeleteThat family's actions is the most self-centered drivel, Beth. Convert someone to another faith after death is only to assuage your own conscience; you can only be converted in life. Desecration? Nah, it is the living, involved in this ridiculous act, that are desecrated. The dead are beyond our reach.
ReplyDeleteMy ex-wife is Mormon. It didn't take long for me to make her promise not to have a baptism me posthumously. I doubt that she would have kept it, but then I know it wouldn't make any difference to me once I kicked the bucket. But still, it grated.
ReplyDeleteIt might be a good idea to gather all the bones that have been dug up from BCE times and baptise the poor devils.
ReplyDeleteVery sad to hear that last wishes were trampled like this. Very undignified. He is an insincere panderer. Seems all too common now.
ReplyDelete