but the baptisms do not automatically convert dead people to Mormonism. Under church teachings, the rituals provide the deceased a choice in the afterlife to accept or reject the offer of baptism.

People have said to me, “baptism is essential to salvation ... (Mosiah 18: 10 in the Book of Mormon). “Now this is the commandment: Repent, all ye ends of the earth, and come unto me ...

Question: Whether the baptism conferred by the community “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints”, called “Mormons” in the vernacular, is valid. Response: Negative.

Since the LDS church founded the Genealogical Society ... to perform a ritual known as “baptism of the dead” – a religious practice in which ancestors are baptised into the faith ...