Suit Eyed Over Yoga in Public Schools

[LindaRS]

 Parents in a southern California community are considering legal action over the constitutionality of a form of yoga being taught to their children, which they claim is introducing religion into public schools.

Last month, half of the students attending classes in the Encinitas Union School District K-6 elementary schools in San Diego North County began taking Ashtanga (Sanskrit for "eight-limbed") yoga for 30 minutes twice per week. In January, the other half will begin the lessons.

Concerned parents have now retained constitutional first amendment attorney Dean Broyles, who says that Ashtanga yoga is a religious form of yoga, and that religious aspects have been introduced into the schools.

"The poses and positions are acknowledged by Ashtanga and Hindi yoga as forms of worship and prayers to Hindu deities," he told ABC News. "They have a spiritual and religious meaning behind them."

source

[Wally]

"If we were introducing Christian worship of bowing, there would be outcry in the community."

Isn't that the truth.  Where is the ACLU on this one?  They have an agenda to keep anything that smacks of religion out of the schools.  They should be all over this.

[Richard Myers]

Yes, they should, but most of them are Bible haters. So  much so that it is hard to appreciate them when they do end up on the right side. And there are others who ought to be involved in such matters. The public schools have become a hotbed of immorality. Southern California is a leader in the destruction of morality. It is good to see there are some who are trying to protect the children. I had better stop before I get into trouble with the election that is just days away in America.

[Mimi]

Yoga is back in the news in southern California:

Is yoga too religious for schools?
By Alisha Ebrahimji, Special to CNN
updated 9:24 AM EDT, Thu August 22, 2013

In July, San Diego Superior Court Judge John Meyer ruled in favor of the school district and the yoga programs. In his ruling, Meyer said that the school district had come up with a curriculum for its yoga classes that didn't emphasize religion.

"This is not the end of the road for this case or the last word regarding the fate of yoga in public education," National Center for Law and Policy president Dean Broyles said in a statement at the time. He told CNN the center plans on appealing the ruling.

Sarah Herrington, author of "Om Schooled" and a yoga instructor for children and teens, says there are ways to teach yoga that don't involve spirituality.

"If you really strip it down to the bare bones, it just relates to your body," she says.

Read more here: CNN

[Wally]

I beg to differ with Ms. Herrington.  You cannot separate Yoga from its religious roots.  Sadly, many Adventists have been taken in by this pagan form of exercise.

[Mimi]

Yes, they have.