General words for religious buildings?

[nancylebov]

As far as I know, English doesn't have general words for religious buildings-- it's synagogue, church, mosque, and it will annoy or confuse people if you interchange them.

Temple or shul might substitute for synagogue (there's cultural variation on that one, of course), and Hindu temple is the only catchphrase I've got for any other religion.

Are there languages which do have general words for religious buildings? Is it a sign of being calmer on the subject if a culture has such words? Is there a legal term in English for religious buildings?

ETA: The idea I was trying to get was that if there were a common word or phrase that people used to refer to houses of worship, including the one they go to, it might indicate that they thought of all religions as being the same sort of thing.

For example, you might refer to your local supermarket by its trademark but there'd be nothing odd about saying that you're going to a supermarket, because there's no strong group loyalty which leads you to think that your preferred supermarket is qualitatively different from other sorts of supermarket.

Comments

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

I used to hear tabernacle, but it went out of favor. Temple, or houses of worship?

[dr-zrfq.livejournal.com]

I've had too many Jewish friends who don't like the use of "temple" unless it's referring to the one in Jerusalem. When I'm going to Jewish services with friends, more often than not we're going to shul -- but these friends will refer to it as a synagogue unless they know everyone in the group will know what "shul" means.

I'd prefer "place of worship" as the generic term, as I know multiple "set aside" spots that are outdoors. But I don't know anyone who uses "place/house of worship" in the singular, only in the plural as an intentionally all-encompassing collective.

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

I didn't know that. When I was a kid, the local Reform building was a temple and the Conservative and Orthodox buildings were synagogues.

[dr-zrfq.livejournal.com]

Oh, it's definitely a YMMV situation. When I was in high school, one of the two local Reform buildings was a "temple" and the other was a "congregation".

[jonbaker.livejournal.com]

With the Reform, calling the house of worship a "Temple" has to do with their religious position that the Temple in J'lem will not be rebuilt. Thus, since there can be no Temple in J'lem, its function is replaced by synagogues. But I know many Conservative Jews who refer to "going to temple", or have synagogues called Temple Something. Some may have started out Reform and later switched affiliation to Conservative, I suppose.

Synagogue is pretty much a straight Greek translation of "beit haknesset", house of gathering. Schule is German for school (in Hebrew "Beit midrash" - house of explanation (of the Torah)). Synagogues often double as places of religious education, so either term fits.

Shtibl - little room - is another word, usually describing a chasidic synagogue in a house, rather than in a dedicated building.

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

Is J'lem an abbreviation for convenience, or is there more significance to it?

[jonbaker.livejournal.com]

Convenience only. You see it in, e.g., the JPost. Probably helps hyphenation/word spacing on short newspaper lines.