![\"Heber](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2017\/02\/laie-temple-772762-gallery.jpg\")
<\/a>First, two stories that can be taken as pointing in two quite different directions:<\/p>\n
(1)<\/strong> As a teenager, I worked every summer for the Southern California construction company that my father owned. \u00a0He didn\u2019t want me to be or to seem spoiled, so he often made sure that I received the dirtiest, least glamorous, and most onerous assignments that were available. \u00a0(I sometimes thought that he overdid it.) \u00a0One of those assignments was to serve as a flagman, telling motorists when they had to wait, when they could proceed, and, most of the time, that they would need to take an alternate route that day.<\/p>\n It was a horrifically boring and terribly tedious job. \u00a0Except when drivers misbehaved, which was surprisingly often.<\/p>\n One day, we were resurfacing a major street in, I think, Arcadia, or maybe Temple City. \u00a0A man drove up on the major cross street where I was standing, indicating that his destination was across on the other side. \u00a0I told him that he could go up one block to either the north or the south and cross there. \u00a0He said that he wanted to cross right where he was. \u00a0I said that he couldn\u2019t. \u00a0He said that he would. \u00a0I indicated what I thought should have been obvious \u2014 that, in crossing over the steaming asphalt before him, he would not only severely damage our work but probably destroy the undercarriage of his car and possibly even pop his tires. \u00a0He said that he was going to cross, regardless. \u00a0I said that he was not. \u00a0He began to roll slowly forward. \u00a0I stepped in front of him. \u00a0He continued to roll forward. \u00a0I didn\u2019t move.<\/p>\n Fortunately, one of our workers, a powerfully-built Mexican-American an ex-Marine whom, when I was small, I had thought to be one of my uncles, saw what was happening and jumped off of his steamroller. \u00a0He jogged over to the car and offered to break the driver\u2019s neck if he came even one inch closer to me. \u00a0The driver prudently chose to back up and go around the block.<\/p>\n I tell the story to indicate a sort of obstinate determination that is a feature of my native temperament. \u00a0When, to me, it\u2019s a matter of principle, I sometimes refuse to budge or back down, even when it might cost me. \u00a0There are other such stories going back to my very young childhood.<\/p>\n (2)<\/strong> \u00a0Years ago, I heard the story of a Latter-day Saint meetinghouse that was to be constructed somewhere in the Cornwall area of southwestern England. \u00a0I\u2019ve never confirmed this story or seen it in writing, but it will serve to illustrate my point even, as is conceivable, if it turns out not to be exactly true.<\/p>\n In the area where the meetinghouse was to be erected, there was a community rule that all roofs must be made of dark gray slate. \u00a0For some reason, though, somebody in a leadership position in the Church determined that we didn\u2019t want to comply with that rule. \u00a0So we sued and we won, and ours became the only building in the area with a shingle roof. \u00a0We won, but I wondered how much we had lost in winning.<\/p>\n I relate these stories in connection with the controversies that are currently aflame about some of our announced temples. \u00a0(I alluded to a few of these controversies in a post here a couple of days ago<\/a>. \u00a0You can learn a bit more about them through the links there. \u00a0And there are several others.)<\/p>\n Off the top of my head, I\u2019m aware of strenuous opposition, historically speaking, to the building of the Bern Switzerland Temple, the Boston Massachusetts Temple, the Denver Colorado Temple, the Newport Beach California Temple, the Preston England Temple, the Phoenix Arizona Temple, and others. \u00a0And some of that opposition was explicitly motivated by religious hostility.<\/p>\n Now, I\u2019ll be candid here: \u00a0It\u2019s difficult for me to see some of the current objections to the tiny Cody Wyoming Temple (e.g., that it will loom over the metropolis of Cody and blot out the night sky) as anything other than at least partially disingenuous. \u00a0The temple in Cody would be less than 10,000 square feet; I\u2019m betting that there are may be some houses<\/em> in the area that are larger than that. \u00a0And it will sit deep within an enclosed area totaling almost 4.7 acres.<\/p>\n And I\u2019ve been to the site of the proposed Lone Peak Nevada Temple, which is really very much out in the boonies. \u00a0Likewise, the legal argument made on behalf of the Church for a zoning variance for the McKinney Texas Temple \u2014 see my blog link above \u2014 seems to me a powerful one.<\/p>\n I have no idea whether religious prejudice is playing any role in the opposition to the temple in McKinney. \u00a0Often \u2014 I think particularly of the Newport Beach California Temple, where I watched the matter pretty closely \u2014 it\u2019s there, just concealed. \u00a0(I note that the construction of a mosque was recently blocked in a Texas community nearby, on the grounds of concerns about \u201ctraffic\u201d \u2014 an issue that is also cited against Latter-day Saint temples, where it should often scarcely be a factor at all.)<\/p>\n That said, sometimes neighbors have genuine nonreligious concerns, whether well-founded or ill-founded. \u00a0Should we compromise? \u00a0And one sometimes has to decide when the fight is worth it and when it\u2019s not. \u00a0Should we continue to challenge the city council in McKinney? \u00a0If we do and we win, will it be a pyrrhic victory?<\/p>\n Douglas Stilgoe, who is known to some as \u201cNemo the Mormon\u201d (although he is in fact no longer a believing member of the Church), flew from his home in England to testify against the proposed temple<\/a>. \u00a0Notwithstanding his opposition, Stilgoe made some incontestably true points: \u00a0It is true, for example, that the validity and value of temple ordinances does not depend upon the size or the splendor of the physical structure in which they\u2019re performed. \u00a0They could be (and have been) performed on a mountain top under the open sky. \u00a0They could conceivably be performed in a quonset hut or in a cabin made of adobe bricks. \u00a0(A friend and I once built such a cabin when we were about twelve or thirteen.) \u00a0Our temples don\u2019t require steeples or spires to be real temples, as the photographs that I\u2019ve gathered for this blog entry make clear. \u00a0(See also the designs for the Anchorage Alaska Temple<\/a>, which is currently being built anew, the\u00a0Belo Horizonte Brazil Temple<\/a>, the\u00a0Singapore Temple<\/a>, and even the\u00a0Bras\u00edlia Brazil Temple<\/a>.)<\/p>\n Should the Church be obliged, though, to perform temple ordinances in quonset huts or adobe-brick cabins? \u00a0Obviously not. \u00a0A sparklingly beautiful temple can, however, be built without a spire. \u00a0But when is compromise warranted? \u00a0And when should genuine principles of religious liberty not<\/em> be compromised?<\/p>\n Is it worth the fight in McKinney? \u00a0In Wellington, New Zealand? \u00a0In Heber, Utah? \u00a0In Cody? \u00a0Very possibly. \u00a0If we always<\/em> compromise, where will it end? \u00a0If we continually surrender, will we continue to be able to build temples?\u00a0 Will we never again be allowed to include spires?<\/p>\n I believe very strongly in the freedom of religion. \u00a0And not merely for my own faith. \u00a0It\u2019s one of the reasons why, many years ago, I came out publicly in favor of the controversial \u201cGround-Zero Mosque\u201d in New York City.<\/p>\n A friend suggests an interesting possible scenario in McKinney: \u00a0We sue for the right to build the current design of a temple there. \u00a0We win. \u00a0We then voluntarily build a temple with a much smaller spire or even no spire at all. \u00a0Or, perhaps even better, having once established the principle we then move the temple site to some other place. \u00a0I would find that quite gratifying, in a way.<\/p>\n Finally, to provide a change of pace, these items have been drawn for your righteous indignation and pleasure from the Christopher Hitchens Memorial \u201cHow Religion Poisons Everything\u201d File<\/em>\u2122. \u00a0Read them and weep:<\/p>\n \u201cFamilySearch and NCIP Partner to Preserve Oral Histories of Filipino IPs\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>