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Ancestry group backs lecture by Mormon baptism-row leader

Britain's leading Jewish genealogical group defends its decision to invite a member of the Mormons to speak at its annual one-day conference last week.

October 30, 2008 12:02

By

Leon Symons And Anshel Pfeffer

3 min read

Britain's leading Jewish genealogical group has defended its decision to invite a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints - the Mormons - to speak at its annual one-day conference last week.

On Sunday at West London Synagogue, the Jewish Genealogical Society of Great Britain (JGSGB) gave a generous round of applause to Sharon Hintze, director of the London Family History Centre, who spoke about Jewish family-history resources.

Ms Hintze is the head of the UK branch of an international Mormon programme which collects details of dead people and posthumously baptises them into the Mormon Church.

Mormons have been at the centre of an ongoing controversy since the early 1990s when it emerged that some of its members had submitted lists of Holocaust victims for posthumous baptism without regard to their origin or relation to the organisation.