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Bankruptcy Judge Accommodates Hindu Temple In Chapter 11

By Howard M. Friedman

Yesterday's Atlanta Journal Constitution reports that a Georgia federal bankruptcy judge has found a creative solution to what could have become a troublesome church-state problem. After the Hindu Temple of Georgia defaulted on a $2.3 million loan and faced foreclosure on its 9-acre property in Norcross, Georgia, it filed for a Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The bankruptcy judge ordered an inventory of the Temple's property, however Temple priests are undergoing a 216-day period of ritual cleansing during which non-Hindus are barred from entering the Temple. So Judge James E. Massey ordered that creditors send someone of the Hindu faith to inventory and photograph Temple rooms. Meanwhile the Temple may drop a $26 million lawsuit it filed earlier this month against police and those who cooperated with them in charging its swami, Annamalai Annamalai, with practicing medicine without a license and theft. The charges were later dropped for lack of evidence.

Full post as published by Religion Clause on September 18, 2009 (boomark / email).