Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints posthumously baptized slain Jewish reporter Daniel Pearl last year, the Boston Globe reported on Wednesday.

Pearl was kidnapped in Pakistan's biggest city of Karachi in January 2002, where he was researching a story for the Wall Street Journal on Islamist militants, and was later beheaded.

Open gallery view American journalist Daniel Pearl who was killed by al-Qaida in 2002. Credit: Archive

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The Globe learned of the posthumous baptism from Helen Radkey, an excommunicated Mormon, who said she had found a record of the baptism that records indicate Pearl was baptized by proxy on June 1, 2011 at a Mormon temple in Twin Falls, Idaho.

Jews are particularly offended by an attempt to alter the religion of Holocaust victims, who were murdered because of their religion, and the baptism of Holocaust survivors was supposed to have been barred by a 1995 agreement.

Mormons believe posthumous baptism by proxy allows deceased persons to receive the Gospel in the afterlife. The church believes departed souls can then accept or reject the baptismal rites and contends the offerings are not intended to offend anyone.

Other religions, including the Catholic Church, have also publicly objected to the baptism of its members, and it's been widely reported that Mormon and GOP presidential nominee front-runner Mitt Romney's atheist father-in-law Edward Davies was posthumously baptized.

This month, the Mormon Church has came under heavy criticism following reports that church members posthumously baptized Anne Frank and the parents of Holocaust survivor and Jewish rights advocate Simon Wiesenthal.

Radkey's recent monitoring also turned up a record for Holocaust survivor and Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel and several of his relatives.