Image by Getty Images

(JTA) — The names of four of the Jewish victims of the shootings at a Parkland, Florida high school have reportedly been submitted for proxy baptisms by some members of the Mormon church — a controversial practice that has been frowned upon by the church hierarchy.

The names of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students Jaime Guttenberg, Alyssa Alhadeff, and Alex Schachter, and teacher Scott Beigel, were submitted into the FamilySearch Family Trees database, according to Helen Radkey, a Salt Lake City-based independent researcher who has studied the Mormon practice of posthumous baptisms for two decades.

The website is used by Mormons to trace family lineages and submit requests for proxy baptisms.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

The victims names were submitted two days after the February 14 shooting attack that left 17 students and teachers dead. Candidates for the rites must be dead for a year before they can be performed.

The Mormon Church, whose official name is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The church sent a letter to its congregations in March 2012 reiterating the policy that members should only do posthumous baptisms on their own ancestors and forbidding baptisms of Jewish Holocaust victims and celebrities.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’re near the end of our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we have a very ambitious goal of $127,000 by April 21.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a Passover gift today!

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Make a Passover Gift Today!

$90 $180

$360

Other amount