[MysticCat]

It's not "this sect of Mormons." Baptism of the dead is a standard LDS belief and practice -- it's why they keep such meticulous geneological records.

The gist of it is this -- Mormons don't believe in hell as such, just different levels of heaven. To get into the higher levels, one must accept the Gospel (as understood by the LDS) -- to get into the highest level (the Celestial Kingdom), one must have participated in the various Temple rites, including baptism. One can accept the Gospel after death, but one can't participate in the Temple rituals after death. So, live proxies can do the rituals for the dead -- not just baptism, but other Temple rituals such as sealing of marriages for eternity. The performance of the ritual by the proxy, however, is only effective to the extent that the deceased accepts it "on the other side."

Ms. MysticCat and I have some Mormon cousins, and we know that our whole family is on a "list" to be taken care of after our deaths. We just laugh among ourselves about it. I can see how this practice would be particularly distressing to Jews, however, given the history of forced baptisms.