USA Parents considering legal action over school yoga

[wundermonk]

Story here.

A group of parents is bent out of shape by free yoga classes at schools in this San Diego County beachside community, fearing they are indoctrinating youngsters in eastern religion.

"There's a deep concern that the Encinitas Union School District is using taxpayer resources to promote Ashtanga yoga and Hinduism, a religion system of beliefs and practices," the parents' attorney, Dean Broyles, told the North County Times.

So, let me get this straight. School children can be taught the OT, NT and Quran where Yahweh smashed baby heads on stones, slaughtered homosexuals, the heathen infidel will be burned and reburned in eternal hellfire by an omnibenevolent God (yea rite) and that is perfectly ok, but Hindu Yoga is not?

[Twilightdance]

Story here.



So, let me get this straight. School children can be taught the OT, NT and Quran where Yahweh smashed baby heads on stones, slaughtered homosexuals, the heathen infidel will be burned and reburned in eternal hellfire by an omnibenevolent God (yea rite) and that is perfectly ok, but Hindu Yoga is not?

Yes that would be true if I were a devout Christian and certainly it is against US constitution to use my tax money to teach things against my belief to my own Children. People can break their head over it, but there is no point of objection really.

Unless, now we Hindus want to retract our previous position and agree that yoga is not Hindu and thus not a religious indoctrination

[Sahasranama]

This is a good thing. It brings more awareness to the Hindu nature of the practice of yoga and also gives a bad name to Christians.

[Eastern Mind]

Vannakkam: It's complicated. One could argue that secular humanism is a religion. Certainly its a philosophy. So all children are indoctrinated into that, whether they (or their parents) like it or not. Although it tries to be secular, it leans towards atheism, and perhaps universalism.

Hence the rise in private schools ... http://www.capenet.org/facts.html but that's still only 10%, but growing. For me, that depends on the type of private school and the reasons. If you want your kid to stay Hindu, that (a private Hindu school) would be the place to go, but if it turned out to be that narrow-minded elitism of some fundamentalist private schools, it wouldn't be so good.

In places where there are large populations of mixed faith, (Mauritius comes to mind) the school system can separate the kids for religion/culture along those lines. But that just isn't the case in most places.

I don't believe in the US that bible studies is part of the curriculum at all. Its supposed top be free from religion, and that's why these parents had a case.

I incorporated hatha yoga a bit, drawing on some of it for various stretching exercises before PE, and just being a member of a faith slants your view in discussions. Its hard to separate your faith from you. I'm sure my classes were more reflective, for example, and I'm sure that without really realising it, I'd spend more time on stories that had a more inner theme. Even the novel studies that a teacher chooses will reflect his or her life POV. On the other hand, I didn't wear veshti and tilak, begin each day with a Ganesha puja and bhajans either.

So its complicated, and it varies a lot from school to school dependent on geography and student demographics.

Aum Namasivaya

[dhyandev]

DON'T LOOK HERE ,DON'T LOOK HERE.........................
why are u looking @ me

Negation is an invitation.Those who didnot know about yog will now get attracted to it .