LDS CHURCH: YOU CAN'T BAPTIZE FICTIONAL CHARACTERS, EITHER!

Librarian shocked over Rue's Mormon baptism.

By Barley B. Bratt

SALT LAKE CITY—The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sent an email Wednesday to users of New FamilySearch and Family History Library card holders stating that proxy baptisms for fictional characters are not allowed.

The Church is rushing to address the issue after reports that the ninth proxy baptism was performed for Rue from District 11 in the Mesa, Arizona temple on March 2. The Mesa temple incident grabbed national headlines after the YouTube video of 12 year-old Allysah Jorgeson went viral. In the video, the tearful Jorgeson discusses both the pain that she and her friends felt when the Hunger Games character died, and the joy that they felt “providing the blessings she would need to at least find joy in heaven.” According to reports, Rue had had the same ordinance performed on her behalf just twenty minutes earlier in the Jordan River temple.

Particular notice has been made because of the resounding yet whispered protests of librarians across the country. As one area librarian commented, “We are worried about the impact on Dick and Jane if they become Mormon.” She then added, with the gentle bounce of her small stack-of-books earrings and a coy smile, “Or every Dickens and Jane Eyre.”  

The Church email quotes Dennis C. Brimhall (who is apparently a real person) as saying, “The searching out of our family, and preparing the names for the work to be done in the temple is a responsibility, a privilege, and—come on, people, the Steed Family isn’t even real for crying out loud!”

"Without exception,” the letter continues, “Church members must not submit for proxy temple ordinances any fictional characters irrespective of if those characters died or did not die in their respective works, including, but not limited to: Ender Wiggin, Mrs. Wiggins (from the Carol Burnett show), Peter, Susan, Edmund, or Lucy Pevensie, C.S. Lewis (who actually might have been real), Frodo Baggins, Holden Caulfield, Atticus Finch, Aquaman, Obi Wan Kenobi, Buffy Summers, Jeffrey “The Dude” Lebowski, Dr. Leonard ‘Bones’ McCoy, Snooki (whatever a ‘Snooki’ is), Jonah (or the whale), or the Very Hungry Caterpillar.”