What a Temple Is
"Temple" names two different kinds of building within the tradition descended from Joseph Smith, operating on opposite principles of access. Both are called sacred. Both stand in cities named by revelation. One admits by interview; the other admits by walking in the door.
This entry compares them factually, on three dimensions: symbol, what the building's architecture and design are said to represent; ritual, what is practiced inside; and access, who is permitted to enter, and on what terms.
Both churches call the building a temple. Only one of them requires proof of anything to walk into it.
Two buildings
The Endowed Temple
The Independence Temple
Access, compared directly
| Question | LDS temple | Independence Temple |
|---|---|---|
| Who may enter | Adult members holding a current, signed temple recommend issued after a worthiness interview; youth ages 12 and older holding a limited-use recommend, issued after a separate worthiness interview, to perform baptisms and confirmations for the dead | Anyone, regardless of membership, belief, or faith tradition |
| Entry requirement | Adults: two worthiness interviews, with a bishopric member, then a stake presidency member. Youth ages 12 and older: one worthiness interview with a bishop or branch president for a limited-use recommend, restricted to proxy baptisms and confirmations. | None. Walk-in access during posted hours. |
| Interview content | Adults: sixteen questions covering testimony, tithing, chastity, garment observance, and Sabbath observance. Youth: the same question set, with items concerning the endowment, tithing, and marital obligations omitted as inapplicable. | Not applicable. No interview exists. |
| Duration of access | Recommend valid for a set period, subject to renewal and to cancellation by a bishop | Standing, as long as the building is open to the public |
| What happens inside | Endowment, sealing, baptism for the dead, and other ordinances the church considers salvific | Worship services, prayer, education, concerts, church administration. No LDS-style ordinances performed. |
LDS temple recommends: the current requirements
The church issues two distinct recommends. A standard recommend, available to endowed adult members, permits entry to all temple ordinances and requires two worthiness interviews: one with a bishopric member, one with a stake presidency member, renewed roughly every two years. A limited-use recommend, available to unendowed youth beginning in January of the year they turn 12, permits entry only to perform baptisms and confirmations for the dead and requires a single worthiness interview with a bishop or branch president. Male applicants for either recommend must first be ordained to a priesthood office.
The standard interview questions were most recently revised under President Nelson beginning October 2019 and remain in use, per the church's General Handbook, as of this entry. The limited-use interview draws on the same question set, omitting items concerning the endowment, tithing, and marital obligations as inapplicable to unendowed youth. Selected requirements from the standard interview:
A firm testimony of God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost, and of the restored gospel.
Sustaining the President of the Church as prophet, seer, and revelator, and the other General Authorities.
Full tithe-paying status is a stated requirement for a standard recommend.
Honoring "the sacred privilege to wear the garment as instructed in the endowment," for those who have received it.
Final judgment of worthiness rests with the interviewing bishop and stake president; a recommend can be canceled if a bishop later determines a member is not living the required standards.
The recommend system's legal consequences extend beyond temple access itself. In Corporation of the Presiding Bishop v. Amos (1987), the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously upheld the church's right to fire an employee, a building engineer at a public, nonprofit gymnasium, in a job with no religious duties, for failing to hold a valid recommend. The named defendant in that case was not "the church" in colloquial terms but the Corporation of the Presiding Bishop, the entity then legally distinct from the church's religious name. See Who Owns "Mormon" (chronology) for that corporate history in full.
Symbol
The LDS temple's exterior and interior symbolism varies by building and era, but consistently emphasizes ascent, separation, and progression: a structured interior sequence moving a participant from preparation rooms toward the sealing rooms and celestial room, architecturally enacting the doctrine of exaltation as a stepwise journey requiring qualification at each stage.
The Independence Temple's architecture, by contrast, was designed by architect Gyo Obata around the image of a nautilus shell: a 300-foot stainless steel spire spiraling upward above a sanctuary a visitor enters through a glass archway depicting the Sacred Grove, Joseph Smith's account of his first vision. Visitors ascend a spiraling "Worshiper's Path" toward the sanctuary itself, described by church leadership as designed so "the Holy Spirit can meet worshippers wherever they may be along life's journey" rather than at a fixed point of qualification.
On the nautilusBoth temples use spiral or ascending forms as architectural symbol: the LDS temple through its interior room sequence, the Independence Temple explicitly through the nautilus shell itself. In the LDS building, the spiral is a path walked only by those already admitted. In the Independence Temple, the same shape is the building's public face, visible and enterable from the street.
Ritual
Inside an LDS temple, participants undergo the endowment, are sealed to spouses and family in marriages considered eternal, and perform proxy ordinances, including baptism, endowment, and sealing, on behalf of deceased individuals. These ordinances are considered confidential; participants covenant not to discuss their specific content outside the temple.
Inside the Independence Temple, the defining recurring ritual is the Daily Prayer for Peace, held every day at 1 p.m. in the temple sanctuary since December 1993, a public, openly spoken prayer, typically written by a member somewhere in the world, focused each day on a different nation's need for peace. No proxy ordinances, sealings, or endowments are performed. The building also hosts organ recitals, educational tours, and church administrative functions.
See also
Sources
- Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, General Handbook, "26. Temple Recommends," section 26.4.1, on standard and limited-use recommend eligibility, age thresholds, and cancellation policy.
- Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, "Planning for Temple Baptisms," churchofjesuschrist.org, on limited-use recommend eligibility beginning January of the year a member turns 12 and the youth interview process.
- Newsroom, churchofjesuschrist.org, "Church Updates Temple Recommend Interview Questions," October 2019, on the full revised question set introduced under President Nelson.
- The Universe (BYU), "President Nelson introduces revised temple recommend interview questions," October 6, 2019.
- Ask Gramps, "What is the history of the Community of Christ temple in Independence, Missouri?" on comparison of ordinances and public access.
- "Daily Prayer for Peace," Wikipedia, on the 1984 call by Wallace B. Smith and the practice's origin.
- Community of Christ, "Independence Temple Self-guided Tour" (cofchrist.org), on the Temple Sanctuary.
- myCityQuest.com, "Independence Temple," on architect Gyo Obata's nautilus-shell design and the Sacred Grove entry archway.
- Atlas Obscura, "Independence Temple in Independence," on sanctuary capacity, public hours, and daily prayer schedule.
- Community of Christ, "Church Leadership," cofchrist.org, and Wikipedia, "Stassi D. Cramm," on her June 1, 2025 ordination as ninth prophet-president and first woman to hold the office.
- Corporation of the Presiding Bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints v. Amos, 483 U.S. 327 (1987), Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School.