IN MY PREVIOUS POST, I made it clear I find the way the LDS Church and its leaders, from the top down, are attempting to ramrod a massive temple into Fairview to be unethical and really quite silly. The threats of litigation made against the Town of Fairview follows a pattern we’ve seen with other temples, but the patterns at play go back much farther than our recent temple building spree. Chances are, you’ve heard the expression “might makes right,” but for LDS, the pattern is more akin to “right makes might.” Many LDS across the nearly 200 years of our story have acted without reasonable forethought, as if the consequences of their actions couldn’t possibly bring disappointment. (Think Independence, Far West, and Nauvoo.) The LDS belief that God is guiding his “one true church” through a modern prophet is so strong that it’s as if members expect God will give them the power to overcome all opposition under any condition. Hence, right makes might. Most recently, many local LDS members followed this pattern by swarming the Fairview Town Council meetings and plaguing the town’s mayor with thousands of emails. The message was clear from our Stake Presidents: the Church (therefore, God) wants the McKinney Temple built as planned on the church-owned lot adjacent to the Fairview meetinghouse. We swarmed and, of course, the town began to resent our arrogance. That’s the pattern. The question is, why is it so dang important to build this temple in this way and in this place? Why are we creating animosity when we could create cordiality?
Continue reading “Fairview: An LDS Temple or a Test Case?”Tag: McKinney Temple
Build the McKinney Temple According to Fairview’s Ordinance, or No, I Won’t Help Deluge the City Planner with 15,000 Emails
THIS ISN’T GOING to win me any friends locally. I may live within the boundaries of a fantastic stake and have one of the kindest, gentlest men I’ve ever known as my stake president, but I’m also in north Texas, near Fairview, where the LDS Church hopes to build the McKinney Temple. I am endowed and sealed, and I sustain my stake president. In this case, that requires me to refuse to do something I find out of the line with the gospel of Jesus Christ and contrary to the mission of the LDS Church. For clarity, I no longer hold a temple recommend because my familiarity with its historic connections to problematic, early Mormon polygamy make it uncomfortable for me to be there. My disinterest in participating in temple rituals disinclined me to speak on the controversy surrounding the proposed temple, all of which hinges on the fact that it’s height would require an exemption from current city ordinances. Yesterday, however, at 3:58 pm, I received an email that I found compromising and manipulative, asking me to help flood the Fairview City Planner with emails–15,000 to be exact. This pulls me into the issue in a personal way and so I’ve decided to throw caution to the wind.
Continue reading “Build the McKinney Temple According to Fairview’s Ordinance, or No, I Won’t Help Deluge the City Planner with 15,000 Emails”
Life Outside The Book of Mormon Belt 