Exciting times from south of the border

Over the course of two days, I watched a four-hour documentary about Mormons. When one has innumerable hours at one's disposal, one fills them in sometimes baffling ways.

My interest was piqued because I attended a Mormon funeral in August (Stephanie's funeral). The movie was actually really good, and now I feel edified concerning most things Mormon.

For instance, did you know that the Mormons have built a huge vault in Utah inside a mountain containing about 2 billion names? They are trying to make a complete list of every dead person. This is because they believe that you can be baptized into the Mormon faith after death. A (living) Mormon acts as a proxy and gets baptized 20 times in a row or so in the name of 20 dead people. Then, claim the Mormons, the dead person has the opportunity to accept or reject the Mormon faith. They're pretty much trying to get anyone they may have missed converting on Earth. This process sparked a lot of controversy when Holocaust survivors found out that the Mormons were posthumously trying to baptize people who got killed in the Holocaust. Now the Mormons make it a point to baptized every dead person except for Jews.

If you want to watch a Mormon documentary, and so much more (which I'm sure you do), go here. PBS's Frontline is kind enough to post many full-length documentaries online. All together now: "Thanks PBS!"