hinduwoman

Mindy Sink
Publication: The New York Times
Date: February 8, 2003
Yoga has become as trendy as this glamorous ski hamlet, so it would not seem surprising that some local schools have added it to the students' day. But some parents and religious leaders here are objecting, saying that teaching yoga in school violates the separation of church and state.
"At its base element, yoga is a spiritual practice," said Steven Woodrow, pastor of the First Baptist Church here. "You can't separate the religious from the spiritual. Why not teach Pilates or aerobics if it's just stretching?"
…
The ultimate goal of the yoga is to balance the body, the mind, the soul and the spirit," said the priest, the Rev. Michael O'Brien of St. Mary's Catholic Church. "When you are talking about the soul and the spirit, then aren't you in the realm of religion? And if so, which religion?"

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I am not wellupto such nuances in USA law, but do yoga count as a religion? Particularly when children are told to imagine themselves as a banana?

EspressoSnail

You can so separate the spiritual and religious! I know many people who are spiritual and are not followers of any religion. Also I wouldn't mind learning yoga... just haven't had time... they teach a class of it at my college... hmm... maybe next fall...

Seraphim

I agree to that ... Yoga should be taught to all kids (never mind what background they came from) because Yoga is good for the body and mind and doesn't add any religious burden to them.

Psycho Economist

I see no reason why yoga, as exercises, would be any different than calesthenics. Ditto for Tai Chi and martial arts.

If one starts introducing a spiritual component ("be one with the tree" or "feel the life energy") to the instruction and you're pushing a legal line. Start preaching the Vedas as part of the yoga unit and it's a clear violation of C&S separation.

As for whether it should... is there a solid case for its value as physical exercise? How does it rate among comparable low and non-impact exercises?

Of course the movie they showed in church told me that even assuming a pose could bring forth Satan's minions, so you might get complaints from fundies regardless.

Bane

I often did this when I was younger coming home from the strip club. I turned out fine.

Melkor

Personally, I see absolutely nothing wrong with Yoda. I mean, who doesn't like the little green guy with his cute way of talking?

I mean, it'd be better than teaching kids about Emperor Palpatine, at any rate. Yoda's a pretty good role model by comparison.

christ-on-a-stick

How utterly ridiculous. Obviously, the ultimate goal of yoga CAN incorporate concepts of balancing the "soul and spirit", but it does not necessarily . The "ultimate goal" of the excercises can be flexibility, strength, balance, whatever... if the instructors are not mentioning the words "soul", "spirit" or "spiritual" then I have a hard time seeing how they will show that doing a bunch of stretching and balance excercises is "spiritual" in nature.

philechat

Come on. The next step is to ban the performance of religious music in school orchestras and chorus because we all know "playing religious music might affect us spiritually"? This is going way too far IMHO. As long as the motivation is not religious there is no way it violates the seperation of church and state.

ju'iblex

we have yoga and tai chi offered at our school, at that point i took them, and 95% of it was completely exercise related, anything that wasnt i just ignored, i did choose that sport group afterall, and it was a load of hogwash, so who cares?

meanwhile, the select few fundies refused to participate at all <despite having chosen and paying for the class>, even during meditation, they considered it unholy and unchristlike. Get a fucking grip.

Amos

If I understand yoga correctly the objection of the priest is well founded. He said: The ultimate goal of the yoga is to balance the body, the mind, the soul and the spirit." In this balance the Kundalini is raised to the heart and away from the crotch area. So really, he is telling you that yoga can impede upon your sex life. If so, that was a legitimate concern and fair a warning, I would say.