https://www.chron.com/culture/religion/ ... 145085.phpOn one side stands the Fairview mayor of the 11,000-resident Dallas-Fort Worth town, and on the other stands the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The latter wants to build a temple to perform the increasing number of baptisms, weddings and other sacraments for a rapidly growing membership in the region. At issue is how high the Utah-based faith can build its McKinney Texas Temple next to an existing LDS church on Stacy Road, a site neighboring Baptist, Methodist and non-denominational places of worship near Highway 75 in North Texas.
After more than a year of heated city council meetings and arguments over zoning laws, the LDS Church and the Fairview Town Council reached a non-binding agreement to avoid legal action in November. They agreed that the church would reduce the temple to 35-foot-tall from 65-feet and the spire down to 120-foot-tall from 174-feet. A compromise was made, with both sides conceding to the project's total footprint from about 45,000 square feet to 30,000 square feet.
The LDS Church said it was ready to submit a revised temple application by the Jan. 13 deadline. However, its leaders soon grew wary that the town wouldn't follow the terms. So, Eric Pinker, a Dallas-based attorney for the church, delivered an official "intent to sue" notice to Fairview that same day.
"The Church has no confidence that the Town will make good on its commitments," Pinker wrote in the letter addressed to Fairview Mayor Henry Lessner and Planning Manager Israel Roberts. Pinker accused the town of violating the church's right to free exercise of religion and nondiscrimination of land use.
At a public information session in December, town officials "referred to the Church in negative ways, characterizing it as a bully, asking local residents to communicate concerns about the 'scaled down' Temple to Utah," Pinker said. And in the town's January newsletter, Lessner said that "through our attorneys, we have told them that there is a good chance that the new design with the 120 foot tower will not be accepted."
The LDS Church, Pinker continued, has repeatedly asked Lessner if it could meet with city councilors to discuss the temple project. "The Church has done everything it can to avoid that possibility, but if Town authorities are unwilling to abide by their agreement, then it will have little choice," Pinker said.
In recent interviews, LDS Church members have told me that God had instructed their president Russell Nelson, a 100-year-old prophet, as they put it, to announce in 2022 that a temple would be built in Prosper, Texas. Two months later, Nelson moved the temple's location roughly 18 miles southeast to Fairview.
It is rumoured a new Article of Faith is being drafted by Kirton McKonkie..."We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law, until things don't go our way. Then we believe in suing anyone and everyone to get what we want."The LDS Church has gone to court in other states with city governments which opposed its temple projects, according to the Tribune. It won a suit against Cody, Wyoming, in August 2024. A month later, LDS elders broke ground on the 9,950-square-foot structure there.
The Church does have a choice on this. It could turn the other cheek, but no. It's just choosing to go down the legal bullying route.
