From Guam to Cape Verde, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is using the financial cushion of its $100 billion investment portfolio to go on a temple-building spree
Yes, but it cannot be about the money coz they are on a mission to save everyone. I hear that they even have Hitler now and that if you are good enough you might even get your own planet in an afterlife.
As someone who was raised in the Mormon church, yes, they do baptisms for the dead, which means that they do proxy baptisms for people who have died in order that persons who died before converting can still be "saved". And I would not doubt they did a proxy baptism for Hitler, as they have done proxy baptisms for Anne Frank many times over. To me the whole idea of proxy baptisms is silly, as the person they are trying to baptize never consented, and in many cases would NOT have consented. If it really did anything, it would be like a spiritual assault on the person the proxy baptism was for. By the way, Mormons refer to the practice as "baptisms for the dead",
As to the getting your own planet... Mormons believe that if a person is "righteous" enough, then they themselves will become gods to rule over their own planets, just like the Christian/Jewish/Muslim god supposedly rules over our earth.
As a child, as I learned the truth about Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny, I kept expecting that the religious stories, which were mostly just as ridiculous, would also turn out o be false. I am still very disappointed about fining out that my parents actually believed it.
@snytiger6 To a non believer it is quite amusing and just another stupid practice but baptising living people against their will is a bit different.
American friends two young children were taken and baptised by their grandparents aginst the wishes of the parents. Needless to say the parents were not too pleased.