I refuse to accept Temple of Doom as a prequel to Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Indy's clearly a committed religious skeptic prior to the ending of Raiders -- it makes little sense that he'd casually disregard the tales of the ark's power as "a lot of superstitious hocus pocus" if he'd encountered a bunch of magical glowing rocks and an evil priest who could rip hearts out of people without killing them only a year before.

Temple works far better as a sequel, and that is what I choose to accept it as.