Is a church converted to Narasimha Swamy temple in Europe? – Know the truth

The video shows the Church being converted to Narasimha Swamy Temple in New York, USA, not Europe.

A video is circulating on social media that shows an old church being transformed into a temple, specifically the inauguration of the Narasimha Swamy temple. Some users are claiming that this video depicts a church in Europe being converted into a temple. In this video, we can see devotees worshipping inside this temple, offering prayers to the deity.

The caption states, “Church in Europe converted to Narasimha temple”.

Let’s check the truth.

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Fact Check- 

We started our investigation by conducting a keyword and reverse image search on Google and the results led us to an Instagram post uploaded by Paramahamsa Vishwananda, founder of Bhakti Marga, featuring the same footage shared on 1 September 2023.

The description states, “A church has been converted in to a temple. It’s in upstate New York. People have shown huge interest online in this temple and how it came about. And that has to do with love. This place came to be through the love of a master who has transformed the lives of thousands”.

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Images of the temple inauguration are also published on flickr.com, showing glimpses of the church that has been converted into the temple. The article published in weny.com states that the monks of ‘Bhakti Marga’ found a two-storey building that was formerly ‘Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church’ in West Elmira and renovated it into a temple and an ashram.

According to a report in Catholic Courier, Our Lady of Lourdes and another church were closed down in November 2021 after a decree of relegation was issued. Further, we came across a report published in The Pillar which said that the closed church was sold to the Bhakti Marga Hindu movement in January 2022.

So, the viral video shows the visuals of Narasimha Swamy temple inaugurated in New York, USA, and not in Europe.

Conclusion- 

Fact crescendo found the claim made along with the viral video to be Misleading. This video shows the inauguration of the Paranitya Narasimha Temple in Elmira, New York, USA, in September 2023. This temple was constructed on a site previously occupied by Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, which closed in 2021 and was subsequently acquired by the spiritual organisation Bhakti Marga.