temple

A temple is any of various types of religious building originally built for a religion other than Christianity, Islam, or Judaism. It can also be used for a Mormon temple. The term is more generic in its usage than the terms for houses of worship in Semitic religions; thus it can be applied to houses of worship in several different faiths, including Hinduism, Sikhism, Shinto, and other faiths, including other eastern Asian religions, ancient religions, and modern faiths such as the Bahá'í.

The assigned usage of this building type is usually the respective subset of the temple usage except when repurposed for other uses. Many temples, especially those built for ancient religions that are no longer practiced, are open to the public as preserved sites.

Sometimes a church or synagogue is referred to as a temple in the generic sense; however it should not be classified as a temple unless it was originally built as one.