Source: The Baltimore Sun

On February 19, 2002, The Baltimore Sun reported that "as Salt Lake City welcomes the world during the Winter Olympics, the world is taking a look at an institution that permeates the history, culture and politics of the region: the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, popularly known as the Mormons... And the dominant architectural symbol of the city and the church is the Salt Lake Temple, its six stately spires reaching toward the heavens... Temples are not places where Mormons worship on a weekly basis. All temples are closed on Sunday so members can attend services in local meetinghouses as part of a ward, or congregation. Rather, it is in these grandiose buildings that Mormons perform the most sacred rites of the church: eternal marriage of husband and wife; the sealing of families to one another for eternity; and proxy baptism of one's ancestors... Inside, the temple is not a cavernous building like a cathedral but is divided up into many rooms where the sacred rites, called ordinances, are performed... As the growth continued, the proportion of church members in Utah, and the United States, decreased. In 1996, for the first time, there were more Mormons outside of the United States than in it. By 2000, there were more than 11 million Mormons in the world, with one-seventh living in Utah."