Young LDS couples will marry here in the same rooms where deceased partners are sealed together for all time. The temple culminates in the well-lighted "Celestial Room," where believers can meditate on their faith.

Early temples like Salt Lake City's, completed in 1893, were built to resemble both a house of worship and an imposing fortress against a world that persecuted founders including Joseph Smith, who was murdered by a mob in Carthage, Ill., in 1844.

Modern temples like those in Rexburg and Twin Falls give the impression of reaching toward the heavens, said Paul Anderson, curator of the Brigham Young University Museum of Art in Provo, Utah, and scholar of Mormon architecture.

"The temples sort of float above the town and evoke a supplementary kind of worship that focuses more on eternal things and less on the day-to-day," Anderson said. "In lots of ways, building the temple shows that the church is really well planted in a place."

For visitors arriving on Idaho's Yellowstone Highway from the north, the Rexburg temple competes with the craggy Teton Mountains for dominance of the horizon. It's at once a beacon for the faithful — and a symbol of influence.

In a community where institutions from the Boy Scouts to local sports teams are Mormon-dominated, the few members of other faiths say the temple is a lavish reminder of how predominant LDS culture is in the region, said Rev. Donald Hammer, an Assembly of God pastor in Rexburg.

"A temple is a powerful icon for any community. That's why they build them," said Father Caleb Vogel, priest of the local 100-member Catholic congregation. "We've always been a minority. And this is affirming that."

Clark Hirschi, an LDS spokesman in Salt Lake City, said that's one reason the church holds open houses before all of their new temples are dedicated, so that even nonmembers can tour the building. Especially in LDS towns like Rexburg, Hirschi acknowledges that Mormons are trying to counter criticism they are exclusive of outsiders.

"It's one that we struggle with, and chew on, because I think there is some truth to it," he said. "But we're trying to get the word out that anybody is welcome."

At the Rexberg temple, church leaders say around 150,000 people will don protective white plastic booties for the free tours from Dec. 29 to Jan. 26.

Vogel, the priest, said he was invited but won't go. Hammer plans to attend.

Once the Rexburg temple is dedicated Feb. 3, however, only LDS members who have fulfilled rigorous requirements including tithing can secure a "temple recommend" that allows them past the lobby's waiting room.