Is there a Groupon solution for houses of worship? Congregations struggling to emerge from the recession may be leery of encouraging “free riders,” individuals who use church services without paying the costs of providing those goods. But while attracting new members with free or reduced-price services may be risky investments, allowing some free riding also is necessary for the future of the church, some scholars conclude.

The days of the Beatles and pop stars like Donovan making highly publicized trips to India to study with popular spiritual leaders are over. But Hinduism never needed the buzz, or large numbers of Western converts, to make it in America. What is propelling Hinduism in the United States into a role as one of the nation’s largest minority religions is a steady stream of Indian immigrants who have built hundreds of temples across the nation, according to a comprehensive new Hindu census.