The world’s newest Mormon temple, in the heart of Philadelphia, aims to embrace and shut out the city at the same time.
Open to the public for a month before only Mormons may enter, the temple is an homage to Independence Hall, where the Founding Fathers drafted and signed the U.S. Constitution. Mormons consider the document divinely inspired, and a church-commissioned painting of Benjamin Franklin signing it hangs in the temple’s foyer.
Although this is the 152nd Mormon temple to be built, it is the one that most strongly connects Mormonism — one of the largest faith groups to be born in the United States — with the birth of the country. It’s an emotional tie for members of a church who have often been treated as a cult, outsiders in their native land.
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