In December, the Church announced the open house and dedication dates for three new temples (Vancouver British Columbia Temple, The Gila Valley Arizona Temple, Cebu City Philippines Temple). It is customary for the Church to open the doors of its temples to the public and the media before they are dedicated. Temple open houses are attended by tens of thousands of visitors and also frequently garner extensive media attention.

Because Latter-day Saints view temples as sacred, it may be difficult for the news media to know how to write about them. To help journalists better understand the purpose of temples and why we build them, we've created an extensive library of information on our Web site, including the following:

Background Information on Temples
A basic fact sheet on temples.

Official Temple List
The Church's official list of temples.

Of Chapels and Temples: Explaining Mormon Worship Services
Recent research has shown that many people confuse Latter-day Saint temples with chapels, which are used for regular Sunday worship services. This document explains the differences between the two.

Temples Reflect Biblical Patterns
An explanation of how temple worship is based on the Bible.

The Work of Temple Construction
A news story explaining some of what goes into constructing a temple.

The Publicity Dilemma
A Church response to inappropriate depictions of its temples.

A video explaining why Mormons build temples.

We hope these documents are useful in helping the news media, bloggers and the public better understand Latter-day Saint temples.