{"id":32837,"date":"2016-04-19T23:01:01","date_gmt":"2016-04-20T05:01:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=32837"},"modified":"2016-04-19T23:01:01","modified_gmt":"2016-04-20T05:01:01","slug":"illustrating-the-fierce-determination-of-some-critics-of-mormonism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2016\/04\/illustrating-the-fierce-determination-of-some-critics-of-mormonism.html","title":{"rendered":"Illustrating the fierce determination of some critics of Mormonism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"South<\/a>
An artist\u2019s rendering of the Durban South Africa Temple, now under construction (LDS.org)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

On 9 April 2016, ground was broken for the new temple in Durban, South Africa. \u00a0Elder Carl B. Cook, of the Seventy, presided at that groundbreaking, accompanied by his counselors in the presidency of the Africa Southeast Area, Elders Stanley Ellis and Kevin Hamilton.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The absence of any members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles from the Durban groundbreaking demonstrated, to at least some of the more vitriolic online critics of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints<\/a>, that Church leaders hold African members in contempt; that the Church believes African blacks\u00a0to be under the curse of Cain; that the apostles regard them as \u00a0unworthy and believe them to have been\u00a0fence-sitters\u00a0in the pre-mortal existence. \u00a0The \u201codd\u201d lack of an apostle at a temple groundbreaking\u00a0was, as one critic summarized it, a \u201csnub\u201d to members of the Church in Africa.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, the absence of an apostle in Durban was not<\/em> \u201codd.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

A quick glance at the list of the sixteen temples currently under construction that\u2019s given here<\/a>\u00a0readily shows that in the case of\u00a0only half<\/em> of them \u2014 eight out of the sixteen \u2014 \u00a0was the ground broken by Church leaders who, at the time of the ceremony, held the office of apostle. \u00a0Was the Church really sending a message of contemptuous disdain to its membership in Fort Collins, Colorado, and Star Valley, Wyoming, and Cedar City, Utah \u2014 to cite just three examples \u2014 when it sent members of the Seventy, rather than members of the Twelve, to preside over temple groundbreaking ceremonies in those towns?<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

And please note one of the recent temple groundbreakings in particular:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Forgotten amidst all of the delicious condemnation of the Church and its leaders for the absence of an apostle from Durban was the fact that, on 11 February 2016 \u2014 less than two months before the South African ceremony \u2014 Elder Neil Andersen of the Council of the Twelve presided at the groundbreaking for the new temple in Kinshasa, the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.mormonnewsroom.org\/article\/ground-broken-first-kinshasa-temple<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Of course, at the time of that now curiously\u00a0forgotten event, some critics pronounced the groundbreaking itself shameful and exploitative. \u00a0Why? \u00a0Because building a temple in Kinshasa\u00a0is simply a greedy and mean-spirited effort to extract tithes from the desperately poor people of the Congo. \u00a0It illustrates \u2014 surprise! \u2014 the contempt in which Church leadership holds the people of black Africa.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

If certain critics of the Church were somehow unable to be\u00a0grotesquely unfair, they would probably have to give up talking and typing altogether.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

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

\u00a0 \u00a0 On 9 April 2016, ground was broken for the new temple in Durban, South Africa. \u00a0Elder Carl B. Cook, of the Seventy, presided at that groundbreaking, accompanied by his counselors in the presidency of the Africa Southeast Area, Elders Stanley Ellis and Kevin Hamilton. \u00a0 The absence of any members of the Quorum […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nIllustrating the fierce determination of some critics of Mormonism<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    On 9 April 2016, ground was broken for the new temple in Durban, South Africa. \u00a0Elder Carl B. 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