Freeing temples from state control?

[t_for_talli]

Are only Hindu places of worship controlled? What about other places of worship - churches/mosques?

Temples I can understand - unless controlled, temple visitors become zombies and eat other people alive or something, perhaps they may even hire private armies and loot people to hoard the wealth in temple premises....

Only Hindus have tradition of donating money in their place of worship. For example every person visiting to Tirupati donates but its no the same with Mosques and Churchs. Its a cultural thing in Hinduism that money donated in temple will earn you punya.

Just a question does Hinduism approves of conversion/accepts converts from other Indian, Abrahamic or any other religions.

As per the beliefs all humans are Hindus by birth. And if you are doing right things ad following right path you will go to heaven irrespective of religious beliefs. Thats why visiting temples is not a compulsion in Hinduism, its your actions that decide your fate and not prayers

 

[Rajaraja Chola]

If used properly by temple boards they could stop the evangelical conversions in India.

Even state controlling all religious boards can also stop conversions. Moreover if anyone converts by change of heart its supportive.
But its that I don like conversion by buying out, fooling uneducated people.

Just a question does Hinduism approves of conversion/accepts converts from other Indian, Abrahamic or any other religions.

You need to follow Dharma in your life, whether you convert or not. I for one dont believe, God will wash our away our sin, even after a holy dip in Kashi or Rameshwaram. We will pay for our mistakes. Even Gods in our traditions have accepted punishments for their mistakes.

 

[SarthakGanguly]

Only Hindus have tradition of donating money in their place of worship. For example every person visiting to Tirupati donates but its no the same with Mosques and Churchs. Its a cultural thing in Hinduism that money donated in temple will earn you punya.

Pray, which universe are you in? Heard of Zakat/donations/aid etc? In our world all religions or dharmas have this concept of donating money.

 

[Tshering22]

Regarding the thread topic, I am of the opinion that places of worship should not be touched by state authorities. NO subsidies, NO compensations and NO control.

It is built for people's devotion, let its matters be in the hands of people.

They may not be taxable which is fine, but security forces must keep checking for who funds places of worship. Especially the many charities and trusts.

Please remember that a lot of this money regardless of which faith is misused and often used to fund anti-social elements. There might be many conmen who would take the advantage of our Hindu brothers' devotion and manipulate them.

So this measure should be for all places of worship including our pagodas and monasteries.

 

[livingdead]

Ideally in a secular country govt should not get involved in running of temple or other religious institution.
I would prefer it to be run by people elected by hindus of that area.

How are sikh gurdwaras administered, they have some sort of election, right?

 

[Rajaraja Chola]

Regarding the thread topic, I am of the opinion that places of worship should not be touched by state authorities. NO subsidies, NO compensations and NO control.

It is built for people's devotion, let its matters be in the hands of people.

They may not be taxable which is fine, but security forces must keep checking for who funds places of worship. Especially the many charities and trusts.

Please remember that a lot of this money regardless of which faith is misused and often used to fund anti-social elements. There might be many conmen who would take the advantage of our Hindu brothers' devotion and manipulate them.

So this measure should be for all places of worship including our pagodas and monasteries.

But a measure like audit should be done CAG yearly to look into its activities. Too much power on local people can also compund the situation.

 

[Tshering22]

Ideally in a secular country govt should not get involved in running of temple or other religious institution.

I would prefer it to be run by people elected by hindus of that area.

No more elections please. More elections means more problems, more thuggery for votes and the whole purpose of elections goes down the drain. It should be a self-driven initiative if there is no ancient tradition of appointing abbots like how we do with our lamas and gurus.

How are sikh gurdwaras administered, they have some sort of election, right?

From what my wife tells me, it is administered by the SGPC, an autonomous body that has affiliation to sikh political parties.