Author:
Publication: Hinduism Today
Date: January / February / March
2003
Introduction: Christians find themselves
with a surplus
Hindus in India are astounded when
they hear that one or another temple in America or England has bought or
rented an unused Christian church. The Church of England has so many unused
facilities that they have a web site, http://england.anglican.org/rcsale/redchhome.html,
to solicit "successful and sympathetic conversions of and uses for redundant
church buildings." Since the 1960s, the Church has put to new use about
1,500 buildings, and has a fairly constant listing of 20 to 25 more available
each year.
While the site lists "places of
worship for other Christian bodies" as the first "suitable new use," several
have been turned into Hindu temples. They include the Shri Sanatan Mandir
in Leicester and the Sanatan Deevya Mandal in Bristol. In the US, the Ganesha
Temple in Flushing, New York, was begun in a church, later torn down to
build a traditional temple. Such conversions of use have a distinct advantage
to Hindus because religious services are already an "established use" under
zoning regulations, avoiding the often very lengthy process of obtaining
new zoning permission. But-most of the buildings currently listed on the
Church of England's site have a distinct disadvantage for Hindus-they are
surrounded by graveyards, something put as far from a temple as possible
in India.
