{"id":109876,"date":"2025-04-15T20:46:19","date_gmt":"2025-04-16T02:46:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=109876"},"modified":"2025-04-15T20:56:31","modified_gmt":"2025-04-16T02:56:31","slug":"nairobi-a-memory-a-new-temple-and-yes-opposition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2025\/04\/nairobi-a-memory-a-new-temple-and-yes-opposition.html","title":{"rendered":"Nairobi: A memory, a new temple, and, yes . . . opposition"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Nairobi<\/a>
My wife and I have visited Nairobi only once, and that was many, many years ago. But I loved the city, and I loved Kenya. I still hope to get back to it, someday. \u00a0(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Many, many years ago \u2014 probably in 1979, or maybe in 1980 \u2014 my wife and I took a trip during Christmas vacation from Cairo, Egypt, to Nairobi, Kenya. \u00a0It remains one of my favorite trips of all time. \u00a0It was astoundingly cheap \u2014 as the result of some sort of special deal for American educators (for which we qualified because my wife was on the teaching faculty at Cairo American College) \u2014 and, relatively impoverished though we were back then, \u00a0we felt that we almost couldn\u2019t afford to pass up the invitation. \u00a0Beyond Nairobi itself, we went out into safari country among the Maasai and we visited the very different (and very Islamicate) coastal city of Mombasa. \u00a0I thought that we would get back to Kenya at some point in the not too distant future, but, thus far, we never have.<\/p>\n

At the time, I really wanted to learn Swahili. \u00a0In fact, I still sometimes think of giving it another go. \u00a0(It\u2019s a fascinating language, with an intriguing structure and a considerable amount of borrowed Arabic vocabulary. \u00a0The word Swahili<\/em> itself is Arabic for, roughly, \u201ccoastal.\u201d).<\/p>\n

Anyhow, while we were in Nairobi back then, I took the opportunity of visiting an evangelical Christian bookstore there. \u00a0My plan was to buy a copy of the Bible in Swahili for future use. \u00a0Which I did. \u00a0While I was in the store, though, I noticed that it contained, on its back wall, two entire shelves of anti-Mormon books and pamphlets. \u00a0I was amazed. \u00a0This was, you may recognize, only a year or two after President Spencer W. Kimball\u2019s 1978 revelation on priesthood. \u00a0I recall thinking that it might just be possible that there were more anti-Mormon books and tracts on those two shelves than, that year, there were Latter-day Saints in all of East Africa. \u00a0Honestly, I found it oddly flattering.<\/p>\n

So, to me, it was wonderful news back in 2009 when Elder Joseph W. Sitati<\/span> was called to the First Quorum of the Seventy as the first General Authority from Kenya. \u00a0He was released as a General Authority in 2022 and given emeritus status and, although there are now a number of General Authorities \u2014 including a member of the Presidency of the Seventy<\/a> \u2014 from Africa, I\u2019m unaware, off the top of my head, of any currently-serving General Authorities from Kenya.<\/span>\u00a0 But it\u2019s very gratifying now to contemplate the fact that a Latter-day Saint temple will shortly be dedicated there in Nairobi.<\/p>\n

Which, you may be completely surprised to learn, hasn\u2019t entirely eliminated opposition to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints<\/a> in Kenya: \u201cMormonism in Africa: Why the Church Must Be Concerned\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Dr.<\/a>
He ended up as a Jersey boy himself: Albert Einstein at Princeton, New Jersey, in 1947. \u00a0But \u201cJersey Boys\u201d isn\u2019t actually about the faculty at Princeton\u2019s Institute for Advanced Study.
(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

My wife and I went out to dinner last night with our usual theater-attending group of friends and neighbors and then, afterwards, enjoyed a performance of Jersey Boys<\/em><\/a> at The Ruth and Nathan Hale Theater<\/a>, in Pleasant Grove. \u00a0Jersey Boys<\/em> was a bit of a mood-shift from Saturday night\u2019s Chekhov, but very enjoyable; the real incongruity, though, was seeing a dual publicity poster at the Saturday-night performance that advertised The Cherry Orchard<\/em> together with a forthcoming performance of High School Musical<\/em><\/a>. \u00a0I thought that I had seen Jersey Boys<\/em> before \u2014 it was an enormous hit on Broadway and in touring companies \u2014 but I soon realized that I had been confusing it with Forever Plaid<\/em>.<\/a><\/p>\n

I\u2019m certainly pleased with \u201cThe Ruth,\u201d as the still-rather-new theater facility is commonly known. \u00a0My wife and I are fond of live theater \u2014 readers here may have noticed that fondness, over the years \u2014 and The Ruth is a real step forward for live theater in Utah Valley.<\/p>\n

\"Our<\/a>
The official movie poster for the Interpreter Foundation\u2019s \u201cWitnesses\u201d theatrical film<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I recorded two podcasts today with the folks at the Keystone<\/em><\/a> podcast. \u00a0The first of the two was devoted to the witnesses of the Book of Mormon (and to arguments against their credibility), while the second focused on Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, and, to some degree at least, on comparisons between Muhammad and Joseph Smith. \u00a0I\u2019m told that they\u2019ll go up in a month or two, probably not directly back to back. \u00a0By the way, some readers of this blog may not be aware that I wrote a relatively brief biography of the founder of Islam several years ago \u2014 Muhammad: Prophet of God<\/em><\/a> \u2014 and that, in April 2018, at the request of a member of the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I published a very, very basic introductory article on the Muslim faith in the Church\u2019s official magazine: \u00a0\u201cUnderstanding Islam.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\"BYU<\/a>
A view to the northeast across a portion of the Provo campus of Brigham Young University, from the building in which, until I retired, I had my office. \u00a0It\u2019s somewhat dated. \u00a0The Harris Fine Arts Center, shown in the background to the left of center, is now gone. \u00a0Its successor, right now called the Arts Building, stands on its site and will be finished later this year. \u00a0(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

All crusaders against religion are acutely aware of the damage wrought in this world by theism and theists. \u00a0But it\u2019s helpful, nonetheless, to be reminded from time to time of a few representative specimens of the horrors. \u00a0Here, for instance, is a recent item from the Christopher Hitchens Memorial \u201cHow Religion Poisons Everything\u201d File<\/em>\u2122: \u00a0\u201cBYU professional programs land high marks, engineering makes big jump in U.S. News grad ranks: BYU Law earns No. 11 for new ranking on grads in federal clerkships\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

But, of course, religion poisons more than just the academic<\/em> side of higher education; its toxicity extends to collegiate athletics, as well: \u00a0\u201cWhat BYU coach is most deserving of the \u2018blue jacket\u2019? Which Cougars coach had the biggest and brightest year? There are a few to choose from\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 Many, many years ago \u2014 probably in 1979, or maybe in 1980 \u2014 my wife and I took a trip during Christmas vacation from Cairo, Egypt, to Nairobi, Kenya. \u00a0It remains one of my favorite trips of all time. \u00a0It was astoundingly cheap \u2014 as the result of some sort of special deal for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":41210,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[38590,1619,2905,788,1622,641],"class_list":["post-109876","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-jersey-boys","tag-kenya","tag-latter-day-saint","tag-mormon","tag-nairobi","tag-temple"],"yoast_head":"\nNairobi: A memory, a new temple, and, yes . . . opposition<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"  Many, many years ago -- probably in 1979, or maybe in 1980 -- my wife and I took a trip during 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