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\u201cElder Renlund Dedicates Kinshasa Temple in a Historic Occasion for Latter-day Saints:\u00a0A key milestone, a blessing for Central Africa\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cTemple dedication \u2018a dream\u2019 for Latter-day Saints in DR Congo \u2014 here are highlights from the event\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cSpecial Youth Devotional in Kinshasa:\u00a0Elder Dale G. Renlund of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles Presides over a Special Youth Devotional the Day Before the Temple Dedication in Kinshasa\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n ***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Back in late 2015, when the Kinshasa Democratic Republic of the Congo Temple was announced, I posted the following item on my blog, under the title \u201cWhatever it is, they\u2019re against it. In fact, they HATE it\u201d:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints<\/a> has revealed the design for its soon-to-be-built temple in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. \u00a0Ground for the new temple will be broken on 12 February 2016, in a ceremony presided over by Elder Neal L. Andersen, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n As can readily be seen, the new temple will be very small and very modest:<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.ldschurchtemples.com\/kinshasa\/<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Now, one might view the building of this temple as an effort to bring what Latter-day Saints believe to be the blessings of temple ordinances \u2014 the full blessings of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ \u2014 to a very poor people for whom travel\u00a0to the already-existing African temples (in distant Ghana, Nigeria, and South Africa) has heretofore been effectively impossible, beyond their wildest imaginations or hopes. \u00a0(Please \u2014 please \u2014 watch\u00a0this moving six-minute photographic essay<\/a>\u00a0on the efforts made by Saints in Cameroon to reach the then-newly dedicated temple in Aba, Nigeria. \u00a0Perhaps you too will be moved to contribute a little bit to the \u201cTemple Fund\u201d of the Church.)<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly known as Zaire) is, by any measure, one of the poorest nations\u00a0on the planet. \u00a0In terms of per capita gross domestic product, the International Monetary Fund (2014) puts it at 186th on a list of 187 countries. \u00a0The World Bank (2011-2014) ranks it as number 182 on a list of 185. \u00a0The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (1993-2014) puts it at 196 of 198. \u00a0(See\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0for the listings.)<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The more bitter and extreme critics of Mormonism typically like to describe temples as \u201crevenue centers\u201d for \u201cLDS Inc.\u201d \u00a0The idea is that \u201cthe Corporation\u2019s\u201d\u00a0requirement that those entering the temple be full tithe payers extorts money from \u201cthe sheeple,\u201d thus allowing Church leaders, apparently, to wallow in sybaritic luxury. \u00a0Or something of that sort. \u00a0But this notion is difficult to maintain with regard to temples in Bolivia and Fiji and Nigeria, and it becomes simply impossible to believe for a temple in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. \u00a0Kinshasa isn\u2019t going to be a profitable source of money for the Church prior to unimaginable changes at the Second Coming, and perhaps not even then. \u00a0Rather, it will always be, financially speaking, a net liability, a drain (and a big one).<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n So the narrative of the Church\u2019s more bitter and extreme critics had to change. \u00a0And it did.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The small size and simplicity of the pending temple in Kinshasa is, you see, an expression of contempt for black people.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n (One might have thought that refusing to build a temple there at\u00a0all<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 and refusing to build\u00a0the three African temples already mentioned, and the two additional temples announced\u00a0for Abidjan, in the Ivory Coast, and Durban, South Africa, and, for that matter, the temple announced for Port-au-Prince, Haiti \u2014 would have been a more obvious expression of such supposed contempt. \u00a0But you\u2019re not supposed to think so much.)<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Imagine, though, the outcry that would have ensued if the Church had unveiled a massive, imposing, magnificent marble-clad structure to be constructed in such an impoverished place.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The point, of course, is that whatever the \u201cMormon Corporation\u201d does is wrong. \u00a0And not only wrong, but viciously so. \u00a0The evil men who lead it have never had a sincere or humane thought in their entire lives, and their followers are, when they\u2019re not malicious and hateful, merely brain-dead automatons.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n This case is a revealing illustration of the sheer unreasonable hostility\u00a0that some people \u2014 mostly apostate former members, I suspect \u2014 harbor for Mormonism.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n I rejoice that the people of the Congo will soon have relatively easy access to a temple. \u00a0Even in worldly terms, I expect that this simple little temple will be among\u00a0the nicest buildings in Kinshasa and, indeed, in all of the nation. \u00a0Its grounds will be serene and well-maintained. \u00a0And it will certainly be one of the most beautiful buildings to which ordinary, non-elite, poor Congolese will, if qualified by their faithfulness, readily be admitted. \u00a0Remember that eighty cents constitutes a full tithe on income of eight dollars, and that, on no income whatever, $0.00\u00a0is a full tithe. \u00a0There is no \u201centry charge\u201d for temples. \u00a0Only a requirement of faithful discipleship with which all, rich and poor, can comply.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n And, predictably, they hated my blog post. \u00a0There was an indignant response in certain circles to what I had written. \u00a0I was, of course, lying about their complaints. \u00a0Nobody had ever<\/em> suggested that racism was involved.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n In fact, though, now that Kinshasa\u2019s temple has been dedicated and is again in the news, precisely the same charges are being leveled, once more, against the leaders of the Church, and in precisely the same places. \u00a0The small size and simplicity of the temple \u2014 a mere \u201croach motel,\u201d says one critic \u2014 illustrate supposed Latter-day Saint disdain for \u201csecond-class,\u201d separate and unequal black members of the Church whom we white members allegedly find loathsome and regard as lucky even to hold the priesthood, and who remain under God\u2019s curse.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The same people who attacked Church leaders for what they denounced as the \u201clavishness\u201d of the Rome Italy Temple now attack Church leaders for the simplicity and small size of the Kinshasa Democratic Republic of the Congo Temple. \u00a0The same people who attacked President Nelson for bringing all of the apostles to Rome are attacking President Nelson for sending a mere single apostle \u2014 and a relatively junior apostle, at that \u2014 to dedicate the temple in Kinshasa. \u00a0The angles of attack change, but the attacks never end.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Incidentally, Elder Dale G. Renlund, the fairly junior apostle who dedicated the new temple in Kinshasa, served in Africa from 2009 until 2014, initially as first counselor in the Africa Southeast Area of the Church and then as Area President. \u00a0I suspect he felt overjoyed<\/em>, honored<\/em>, and\u00a0privileged<\/em> to dedicate the temple and that he would be astonished to see himself described as a personified expression of disdain and contempt.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s also worth noting, by the way, that there are now four dedicated temples in Africa, along with two temples under construction, and three more that have been announced. \u00a0Where photos or architectural renderings are available for them, you can judge for yourself whether they reflect racist disdain for those who worship, or who will worship, in them:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Dedicated, beside the temple in Kinshasa:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Aba Nigeria Temple<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Accra Ghana Temple<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Johannesburg South Africa Temple<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Under construction:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Abidjan C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire Temple<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Durban South Africa Temple<\/a> (nearly complete)<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Announced:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Lagos Nigeria Temple<\/a> (no image available)<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Harare Zimbabwe Temple<\/a> (no image available)<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Nairobi Kenya Temple<\/a> (no image available)<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Also serving predominantly black Latter-day Saints are the<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Santo Domingo Dominican Republic Temple<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n and the nearly-complete<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n