Temples and Mosques

On July 28, 1998 I was a missionary in Ukraine sitting in a District Meeting. Just as we were about to open with a prayer the Sister Voge, Mission President Voge's wife entered the room. As soon as the prayer ended she jumped in and explained that as soon as President Voge had left the hotel to come to our meeting that morning she received a call from the mission office with the exciting news that a temple was to be built in Kyiv.

This was huge! The first LDS temple to ever be constructed in the former Soviet Union and I was one of the first people in the world to hear this exciting news. Well, I dreamed of attending the dedication but since the open house is going on right now it ain't gonna happen. That's right, just over 12 long years after the announcement the temple is to be dedicated.

That is why I have sympathy for the proposed Islamic community center to be built 2 blocks from Ground Zero in NYC. Let me make one thing clear, this decision is up to New Yorkers, not every American with an opinion. This seems so silly to me, I mean come on this is America, we should be free to build our religious structures where ever we want as long as we are obeying local laws.

I've heard the argument that it might be legal but it's not appropriate. Well, is it appropriate for Mormon's to be building temples in the heart of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church? How about the Mormon temple that has been proposed to be built in Rome, Italy? Mormon zealots massacred over 100 unarmed men, women, and children from Arkansas in the Mountain Meadows Massacre. Would it be appropriate for us to build a temple in that state? I answer yes to all of the above.

At any rate I feel for my Muslim brothers and sisters. It might take awhile to build their facility but hopefully it will be completed. It took more than 17 years to build the temple in Ecuador. 12 years for Kyiv's and the Rome temple was announced more than 2 years ago with little progress since then. It took over 5 years for the temple to be built in Boston when it normally only takes 2 in the US.

Sure, our temples can take time to build because of government corruption as well as archaic laws and frustrating procedures. But I'm willing to bet that some of the people in these locations just don't really like Mormons and their not particularly fond of the gigantic emblems of our faith being built in their community. And that is why I feel empathy for the very public struggle Muslims are going through at this time.