Readers Respond: Your Sacred Places

Though we're unable to show every letter that came to us in response to our call for reader feedback, here is an index of  places—and concepts—readers informed us of, in no particular order:

Machu Picchu, Peru
Ocmulgee Indian Mounds near Macon, Ga.
Akshardham in New Delhi, India
Muir Woods
Grafton Peace Pagoda, upstate New York
Great Mormon Temple and Tabernacle, Salt Lake City
All the Mormon Temples of the world
St. Paul's Cathedral of Hempstead, N.Y.
Within my own heart
U.S. military cemeteries of the world
My dying granddaughter’s hospital room
My private room
My flannel Wallace tartan shorts
Tirumala Tirupati, India
The Church of Guadalupe, containing a mysterious image of the Virgin Mary
The House of the Virgin Mary, outside of Ephesus, Turkey
Magic Pond, Never Summer Range, Colorado Rocky Mountains
Gobind Sadan, India
Kauai, Hawaii
My mowed labyrinth in Columbia, Mo.
Steamroom of my local JCC fitness center
Temple of ECK, Chanhassen, Minn.
Temple of Borobudur, Java, Indonesia
Practice of genealogy
Green Mountains in Vermont
The mountains of Arizona
Army chapel on North Fort, Fort Lewis, Wash.
Inishmaan, Aaran Islands, Ireland
Chart of the chemical elements and their periodic relationships
A valley near Mancos, Colo.
Kilmore (Church of Mary), Dervaig, Isle of Mull, Scotland
People, not places, are sacred when they worship together
An oak tree, Nipomo Native Garden, Calif.
Eisenhower Chapel in Abeline, Kan.
Azalea trails in Callaway Gardens, Ga.
The whole Universe and its contents
Baha'i Faith World Center, Haifa, Israel
Oliver Cemetery, Vienna, Ill.
God is your temple
In a boxcar
The marriage bed I share with my wife
Walden Pond
South Rim, Grand Canyon
Next to my wife
The Sacred Grove where God and Jesus appeared to Joseph Smith
Constant fellowship with Jesus Christ
The donation kettles of the Salvation Army
Little Italy, New York City
The natural world
Mt. Zion, which is Heaven
Baha'i shrines on Mt. Carmel
We should focus not on places, but starving, underprivileged children
Order of Malta, Lourdes, France
Mirror Lake, Yosemite, Calif.
Within Man
A Quaker meeting house
Within the compassionate heart
Hilton Head Island, S.C.
Lovers' Leap, Hannibal, Mo.
Home
Wooded area of the family farm, eastern Iowa
Redwood forests of California
Moss Garden of Kyoto, Japan
Pantheon in Rome, Italy
Woods of Northern California
The 5,000 temples of Vrindavan, India
In the arms of my spouse
Medjugorje, Bosnia
Mt. Fuji, Japan
The fluffy red carpet where I worship Jesus Christ
The Ginkgo tree planted in memory of my wife
The hope we carry in our hearts
Resurrection sculpture of Christ, St. James Church, Herzegovina
Grand Central Station, Section A, New York City, where I hand out religious tracts
Rows of soldiers' graves in Normandy, France
Muktinath in northern Nepal
The hospital ward where I recovered from a bout of severe depression
Antietam National Battlefield Park
Church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence, Italy
Baha'i House of Worship in Wilmette, Ill.
Dead Horse Point near Moab, Utah
Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses
Baca National Wildlife Refuge
Craggy Gardens, N.C.
Sunrise, sunset
My lover's arms
Grain Room, Chicago Board of Trade
God is DNA
Chaco Canyon, N.M.
My father's burial plot
Tiny rockledge church in Petra, Lesvos, Greece
The Church of the Wayfarer, Los Angeles
McWay cove, Pfeiffer State Park, Big Sur, Calif.
The throne of God
The Taj Mahal
A rebuilt church in Odessa, Ukraine
Faith alone makes a place sacred
Ancient churches in Poland
The high water mark on the battlefield at Gettysburg, Pa.
Within me
Camino de Santiago, Spain
Churches of Wittenburg, Wis.
Isle of Patmos, Aegean Sea, where St. John wrote Revelation
Mt. Shasta, Calif.
Burying Hill, Westport, Conn.
In the presence of the residents of a nursing home
Village of Conception de Maria, Honduras
Chapel of Sacred Heart Church, Pinehurst, N.C.
In the natural world God has made, and the abilities He has given people
Arlington National Cemetery
Giant old oak tree at Tanglewood, where the Boston Symphony plays in summer
Shrine of Baha'u'llah, Israel; Shrine of the Bab, Palestine
The Cross in the Woods Catholic Shrine, Indian River, Mich.
St. Joseph's Abbey in Spencer, Mass.
Lake Mohonk Mountain House, New Paltz, N.Y.
The Springs of Canterbury Ridge
Monastery at Ajeltou, Beirut, Lebanon
My son's bedroom, unaltered since he left home
The 'Tree of Angels' on the altar of a church in Austin, Texas
Hospitals: where people are born, healed, and die
The comfy recliner where I read the Bible
The chapel at Fairton Federal Prison, N.J.
Medjugorje, Croatia, where the Virgin Mary appears
The Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ in Groom, Texas
Precious Moments Chapel in Carthage, Mo.
Otranto, Italy, where 800 Catholic martyrs were beheaded
The whole world, which we need to protect
Northern India
Glastonbury Thorn Tree, Glastonbury, England
Rock of Ages in Carlsbad Caverns
Naval Academy Chapel, Annapolis, Md.
The ocean
My desk at work and family dinner table at home
The original ruins of Christ Convent, Portugal
Nature reserve of Earth Sanctuary, near Seattle
Canon Beach, Ore.
The country road near my house, and the altar at my church