Racism in Religion - Non-Hindus not allowed in Hindu Temples

Yesterday I wrote about people, non-Hindus, who want to convert to Hinduism and explained that it is not in any way possible. Recently there was a discussion about the fact that many Hindu temples don’t allow non-Hindus to enter. Someone demanded that this rule should be changed and quite a debate started due to this issue. I thought this would be the right point of time to write a blog post about this topic, too.

In South India, non-Hindus are not allowed to enter most temples. There are big signboards at the temples stating that only Hindus are allowed. In North India, too, there are some temples that keep this rule, for example the Vishwanath temple in Varanasi. Or the Jagannath temple in Puri, in the eastern part of India.

I already stated the fact that it is simply impossible to convert to Hinduism. So only those people who are born Hindus will be allowed in those temples. All others will be denied entry. I see a small problem here though: how would you determine whether someone is a Hindu or not?

There is no pass that tells whether you are Hindu or not. There is no membership card that you could show. I know that in Germany there is a ‘church tax’ that Christians pay to the church. They could show that receipt to prove that they are members of the church. But there is no ‘temple tax’ or any receipt that anyone could show! How, really, would you prove you are a Hindu?

There are of course some outer signs on which you could guess that a person is a Hindu. Higher caste Hindus for example would wear the ‘janeu’, a string around the shoulder. You could also expect a Hindu to have some ‘tilak’, a coloured sign on their forehead. You cannot however say that everyone who is not wearing that is not a Hindu! You cannot even say that everyone wearing that is born to Hindu parents! Anybody could put a string around his shoulder and some colour on his face.

One could suggest that a person’s knowledge could be tested. Of course you could find out whether a person knows the popular mantras and chants, whether he or she has read the scriptures and whether they know how to behave in a temple. There are however many people who are not born Hindus who have learned this all just because of their interest in Hindu religion! Many of them have Christian parents or come from any other religion! But only their knowledge does not make them Hindus!

So how do those temples actually decide who is allowed to go in and who is not? They look at the skin colour. Yes, that is the way that they believe makes sure only Hindus enter the temple.

I believe this is a very racist concept! They only look whether a person looks Indian or not. Fact is however that any Indian person could be a Muslim, Christian, Jew, Buddhist or anything else! You cannot tell from a person’s face if his parents were Hindus! He can even bring his parents along, you won’t know either whether they are born Hindus or not! So you deny everybody entry who has white or black skin colour, who has Caucasian or African roots, regardless how long he has been following Hindu scriptures, ceremonies and rules. Instead, you allow anybody with Indian looks to enter, whether he prays to Jesus, Allah or does not even believe in God at all.

If you don’t call it racist, you would call it a joke. It is simply a wrong concept.

In protest to this I would not advocate allowing non-Hindus in temples, as some people do now. Instead, just boycott every temple or place that has such a rule. Why, I have to wonder, would non-Hindus even want to go anywhere where people think like this? If you are not welcome in a place, why would you make effort to get the permission to go there?

Again, I can just conclude that I am happy not to belong to any religion. I can go where I want, I can welcome anybody and of any religion in my home and Ashram and I can be free to surround myself with people of different cultures, religions and different philosophies.