Should Places of Worship Charge An Entry Fee?

[mcgillianaire]

St Paul's Cathedral at night, taken almost exactly a year ago. But would you pay $20 to check it out?

About a week ago Theo Hobson, a British theologian, sparked a fierce debate in the Guardian's Comment is free section by deploring the entry fee at St Paul's Cathedral ($20, in case you're wondering). He described how he had evaded the charge under a ruse of "religious reasons" recently. To many including myself, he came across as a tight-arse. Since then several people, particularly those connected to the church, have written letters in response. It's certainly an area of interest and the St Paul's fee has deterred me from visiting it properly.

I've learnt quite a few things. That historical buildings require large sums for their upkeep is not surprising, but I didn't know that last year English Heritage ended its annual grant system to cathedrals after 19 years. Given this government's commitment to cutting public spending, it seems unlikely the state will fill the void. Moreover, the consensus amongst those who run cathedrals is that when they relied on donations, the "giving was so pathetic that charging had to be introduced to maintain our heritage, giving of the level shown by Theo Hobson, for instance", wrote the Rev Tony Bell from Chesterfield, Derbyshire. At Durham Cathedral they have managed to keep entrance free for all visitors and are open every day of the year, but only because they've had to depend on alternative sources of income to make up the shortfall from visitor donations. Rev Canon Rosalind Brown, canon librarian at Durham said "it costs us over £6 a minute to run the cathedral, and the average donation from our 600,000-plus visitors each year is 31p". Is it any wonder our houses of God are turning commercial?

What do you think? Is this inevitable? And what is the situation with places of worship in the city/country where you live or have visited?