Buffman

I have always associated "Yoga" with Hindu Mysticism.

The word 'Yoga' is derived from the Sanskrit word 'yuj' which translates "Union of Mind, Body and Soul".

After reading the other posts on this string, and then reading the following,...

http://www.gentlepower.co.uk/yoga.html

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jrcole/mystic.htm

...I find myself in agreement with ohwilleke and Alonzo. Yoga is a church-state issue. Relaxation exercising is not. (It almost seems like someone is attempting to substitute Yoga for the overuse of Ritalin.) However, no matter how noble the goal or successful results, Yoga and Christianity are both concerned with something each calls the soul of the individual. IMHO, the instant souls are involved, it becomes a religious indoctrination program. Thus, it also becomes an issue of church-state separation.

DarkBronzePlant

Um, I guess I was thinking that if Christians could just say "do unto others as you'd have done unto you" and leave it at that, we'd all be better off.

doubtingt

Yoga clearly has religious roots.
The excercises themselves clearly have a
secular purpose and are not unique to yoga.
The term has been so secularized that clearly
the people behind the complaint are doing it
just to "get even".

They should simply change the name,
then the X-tians would have to base their
complaint on the content and they will have
no case.

4th Generation Atheist

It's like this: to the fundies, "freedom of religion" means "freedom of Xianity."

When they want to inject something into the schools that they think will lead people into their way of thinking, then they'll fight against C/S separation. The purpose of such separation, to that line of thinking, is to keep Pagans, New-Agers, followers of Eastern religions, and foreigners who wish to keep practicing their own faiths in their new country from doing so in any way that a fundy or a fundy's child might have to see or, worse yet, tolerate and accomodate. This extends to atheists, who simply don't want to be practicing anything; fine as long as fundies don't know. Once fundies know, the atheist is not allowed to object to whatever means the fundies wish to use in an attempt to convert him or her or it. Worse'n Microsoft.

Basic rule they want for society is: No being weird unless it's their kind of weird. Which is to be redifined as "not weird". They focus on the public schools because school is where most of us learn what's normal for society, and the gov't funded schools indicate what the gov't is going to consider normal. They want to make sure the gov't's message to the next generation is "fundy is normal; other oddball things are not." (Absence of oddbal things is also "not normal"; one has to "believe in" the Bible crap.) Tolerance doesn't enter the issue unless they need to claim it for rhetorical purposes.

I'll agree that teaching kids Eastern religion is equivalent to teaching them any other religion; but you know damn well the fundies who are upset here will be pushing next year for, say, a Bible class. <img src="graemlins/banghead.gif" border="0" alt="[Bang Head]" />

[ September 09, 2002: Message edited by: 4th Generation Atheist ]</p>

Anti-Creedance Front

I think eastern religions are an inseperable attachment to martial arts or yoga classes. We had a Baptist karate ministry come to our public school a while back! I called the ACLU and the FFRF on them, like the evil get-off-my-ass activist I am, and they sent my school a grievance. Anyway, I just thought, how can they take something created by Buddhist monks, and turn it into a ministry for Jesus? Then again, they've managed to steal everyone else's ideas. Halloween, black metal, death metal, even Japanese animation.. and nobody's put up a fuss about it. Anyway, when you are in martial arts class, you are taught to meditate and maybe focus on your chakra or chi. These aren't big, noticeable things, but eastern religions still ahve a strong connection to their birthplace. Asia! It's to be expected, I suppose.