Judge Rules Yoga Not Tied To Religion, Allowed To Remain In Public Schools

[cali]

SAN DIEGO (AP) — A judge is allowing a San Diego-area school district to teach yoga, rejecting the claims of disgruntled parents who called it an effort to promote Eastern religion.

Yoga is a religious practice, but not the way that it is taught by the Encinitas Union School District at its nine campuses, San Diego Superior Court Judge John S. Meyer said in Monday’s ruling.

Meyer said the school district stripped classes of all cultural references including the Sanskrit language. He noted that the lotus position was renamed the “crisscross applesauce” pose.

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In the lawsuit Broyles argued that the twice weekly, 30-minute classes are inherently religious, in violation of the constitutional separation between church and state.

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http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2013/07/01/judge-to-rule-on-whether-yoga-tied-to-religion/

[onehandle]

1. Religion is the best export from the East, imo.

Buddhism, Hinduism and their associated religions/philosophies complete us.

[Tien1985]

2. Such a ridiculous waste

Of time and money.

If children who opt out are being harassed, then they should be having some serious intervention on bullying. Not making up garbage about religious indoctrination.

[noiretextatique]

3. nuts

really, really nutty.

[bananas]

4. "It’s almost like a trial by Wikipedia"

The judge said that the opponents of the yoga class were relying on information culled from the Internet and other unreliable sources.

“It’s almost like a trial by Wikipedia, which isn’t what this court does,” Meyer said.

[ZombieHorde]

5. Yoga is a religious practice for many people,

but in the US it is treated more like an exercise routine.

[struggle4progress]

6. But ... but ... "criss-cross applesauce" is so obviously an attack on the plaintiffs' religion!

[TlalocW]

7. It all depends on how you teach it

Years ago, a friend of mine was going through a hard time and took a yoga class through the local community college. After the class ended, he wanted to find an ongoing yoga class, and he talked me into going with him. First place we went was a Jazzercise where the instructor dimmed the lights, put on zitar music, and would talk about chakras and energy flow and stuff like that (what I consider bullshit). I actually fell asleep during the incredibly difficult, "recline on your back," position.

Next place was a New Age church, which made me groan inwardly because if the Jazzercise instructor was full of codswallop, I'm sure this place would be even worse. Nope - no religion in it. The instructor was a bit of a hard-ass, and it was a fairly difficult workout. Plus it pissed off my friend when the instructor came up to us afterward and complimented me on how seemingly advanced I was.

Other interesting thing about it was the church was in the third/last position in an old strip mall. Next door to it in space #2 was a gay bar, and in space #1 was a Baptist Church. I always kind of wanted to just go there and hang out in the parking lot to see how they all dealt with each other when they had events at the same time.

TlalocW