quote:

ORIGINAL: Kirata

Parents consider lawsuit to block Yoga instruction
~AP Story
...the lesson begins with deep breathing and stretches common to many yoga classes. But there is no chanting of "om," no words spoken in the Indian language of Sanskrit nor talk of "mindfulness" or clasping hands in the prayer position.
Campbell avoids those potential pitfalls for the Encinitas Union School District, which is facing the threat of a lawsuit as it launches what is believed to be the country's most comprehensive yoga program for a public school system.
Parents opposed to the program say the classes will indoctrinate their children in Eastern religion and are not just for exercise...
Mary Eady pulled her first-grade son out of the classes.
Eady said she observed a kindergarten class in which the children did the motions referred to in yoga practices as a sun salutation. The folded over children, stood upright, sweeping up their arms toward the sky.
She said while the teacher called it an "opening sequence" the connotation was the same in her mind: Students were learning to worship the sun, which went against her Christian beliefs that only God should be worshipped.
"It will change the way you think," she said. "What they are teaching is inherently spiritual, it's just inappropriate therefore in our public schools."
The article points to the problem:
Despite the long debate over prayer in school, constitutional law experts say the courts still have not clearly defined what constitutes religion.
"You might get litigation on a program like this because it's not totally settled what the boundaries of religion are," said New York University law professor Adam Samaha.
With a parent poised to argue that yoga is "inherently spiritual," the situation gives promise of becoming interesting. We would have to confront the question of whether or not we even can disambiguate practices like yoga and meditation from religion. And if we can, whether it's a distinction without a difference for First Amendment purposes.
Thoughts? Comments?
K.

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Moonhead

Like everything else in the west, then, and anybody who claims that there's enough spiritual content to that for it to be worth banning kids over being antichristian was probably dropped on their head as a baby.

quote:

ORIGINAL: SimplyMichael

Nothing is "inherently" religious.

And Christians are so slow, they dont get to 1 until the rest of us get to 3.

quote:

ORIGINAL: fucktoyprincess
So people in the West can do whatever they want with their yoga as interpreted by themselves. But they can't say that yoga itself is not spiritual or religious. Their distorted view of it does not change it's inherent spirituality. And it is the height of arrogance to suggest otherwise.