Parents Sue School For Making Children ‘Religious Guinea Pigs’ — By Teaching Them Yoga

Originally posted by Sounds_of_Silence
Children should be taught a level of "free-will"...why should parents be able to dictate almost everything their child does?

The question should be, "Why should the Supreme State be allowed to dictate almost everything children do?"

This is all about control. The State must absolutely control everything, all behavior, all activities, and must wrest control of the parents away. John Dewey was a Statist. He is basically the founder of the modern educational system and he believed that the children exist for the State, to be trained by the State. This is also what Hillary means when she says "It Takes A Village" to raise the children.
If the people who are the Statist controllers say that Christianity is out and meditation and yoga is in, they rule with an iron fist.

I found this article from the Southern Poverty Law Center on teaching yoga in schools as part of their program on teaching tolerance. Remember, to the social engineers, tolerance is code for programming students to be perfect cogs in society or for whatever programming they want to achieve.

www.tolerance.org...

I personally like the idea of teaching yoga to kids, but they need to be straight up about what they are doing and not hiding their true motives. They need to stop the hypocritical behavior. Pretending yoga has no spiritual aspects is a form of deception.

Here is a fb page for the UN program of yoga

www.facebook.com...

I wonder why that UN Soldier with the blue beret was standing in the back of the studio?

Since the State controls what is taught in the public schools, and there is a trend in the UN to teach yoga, I would say that there is a motive behind this which stems from the UN.

Elaine Valdov, PhD, is the director of the International Institute for a Culture of Peace in the United Nations and the co-chair of the Executive Committee of NGOs affiliated with the U.N. She is a peace and human rights activist and founder of the Yogis without Borders movement.

www.sivananda.org...

The meditation room of the UN is incredibly ugly. I will keep my statues of Nataraja.

www.bibliotecapleyades.net...

Originally posted by Sounds_of_Silence
Children should be taught a level of "free-will"...why should parents be able to dictate almost everything their child does?

Only Pedophiles/pervs/communists agree with you

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if this is what you would like your kid to learn
then no one is stopping you :


Just bare in mind that yogis are not necessarily the physically fittest
in the world, yoga is more of a meditation thing. (incl. flying yogis)

Any who, from the article :

“personal data is being collected regarding students participating in yoga in the form of measurements and questionnaires.Many parents were not initially aware of the study and did not provide informed consent for their children to participate as test subjects.”

Good to know that there are parents who would NOT use their
children as guinea-pigs for a state run experiment.
Obviously there is money and profiteering involved as well,
not to mention conditioning the kids to be passive, and zoned-out.

"This is frankly the clearest case of the state trampling on the religious freedom rights of citizens that I have personally witnessed in my 18 years of practice as a constitutional attorney," Broyles said.

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.TextI am a Christian and I personally attend a yoga class regularly at my gym. I love it, and my yoga instructor is amazing. However, I must add that at the end of the yoga class the instructor has the class bow and "give honor" to ourselves, our bodies, the divine within us, one another, and the universe. How the class is taught depends very much upon the individual instructor. In my class, as a mature adult, I simply opt to not participate in that part.

you consider him amazing yet you balk at his example of bowing down to the five things you mention. your instructor obviously has a deep understanding of the unity/oneness of existence. there is only god! he is omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent.
there is no separation.
all is he.
there is only god.
thats why you bow down, to humble yourself before the almighty. he is your body, he is the universe, he is the "other" and yourself. if that is incorrect then he is not really almighty. its so simple. which is a problem for many.

Text Yogic postures, breathing, and chanting were originally designed to being a sense of oneness with Brahman—the Hindu word for the absolute being that pervades all things. This is pantheism (all is divine), not Christianity.

it would appear you are claiming that all is NOT divine?
is christianity against the divine? despite genesis teaching that all originates in god, that nothing was made that was not of god.

Text we are told this inner secret of the yoga objective: “Yoga is the progressive elimination of conscious- ness in order to secure pure Self-awareness. This consciousness must be reduced to ashes, its seeds sterilized so as to render all future consciousness impossible.

terms may differ, but the loss of your consciousness or its processes frightens you.
you are in reality beyond consciousness and its witness.
you can be aware of this or that but try being aware of your awareness. that was never born and will never cease to be. so just relax.
and further on you say that yoga is not natural. do you frown on a practice that keeps the body young and supple? do you think it unwise to keep your hormonal system in a fine state of balance so that optimal health is maintained? do you reject an art that calms your mind to the point of absolute stillness and peace when jesus advises you "to be still and know the truth." the bible also advises you that god is within you. is not the kingdom of heaven within you, and does it not say that god resides in heaven?

our father, which art in heaven!

kids practicing yoga is not only harmless; it is decidedly helpful!

this lawyer is an acre short of a paddock i think.

Originally posted by maddy21
So what if its part of our culture.... Are you folks just not going to stretch yourself and bend your self that way next time being afraid its part of some "Hindu indoctrination" ? Maybe you folks should learn Yoga to avoid doing all those poses by mistake....

Exactly. If you bend over to pick something up -- you have just done a yoga pose - oops!

If you reach up to change a light bulb - you have just done a yoga pose - oh noes!

If you sit down on the floor cross-legged to watch TV - you have just done a yoga pose - the horror!

You can't do any of those things anymore, or you are worshipping a Hindi god!

reply to post by ThirdEyeofHorus


I don't need lessons on Hindu Yoga or what each pose means because that isn't relevant to this issue. I posted an article a few posts back stating what the concerns were of the NCLP and how the Superintendent of the school district being sued responded to those concerns.

“In an effort to make the program more ‘kid friendly,’ and to try and avoid creating controversy with some of our parents, we have removed the Sanskrit terms for some of the poses,” stated Baird, who added that Sanskrit is merely a language and not religious.

Some of the parents have objected to the use of Sanskrit in classes, according to Baird, but he stated “that would be comparable to saying that teaching Latin is promoting Catholicism or using Hebrew is teaching Judaism.”

Balancing a fine line between Ashtanga’s roots and parent’s concerns

In an effort to further placate concerned parents, Baird stated, “We have also removed pictures or artifacts from classrooms that might represent yoga's Indian roots.”

Despite these efforts to allay fears that Ashtanga is promoting Hindu concepts, Baird thinks that these moves don’t equate the school district removing religious concepts from the program.

“I don't really believe that we have taken religion out of the program because the only way to put religion into the program is to teach a religious philosophy and then incorporate the yoga into that philosophy. We are not doing this,” Baird stated.

The school district in question has taken measures to ensure that it is just physical activity and not spiritual or religious.

I find it ironic though that the NCLP is taking issue at all considering that they actively work to have Creationism taught in public schools but of course that's really the heart of the matter anyway. It isn't that the NCLP is concerned with anything religious in schools, their concern is what isn't Christian in schools... which incidentally is how no religion in public schools got so strict in the 1st place, Fundamentalist Christians flipping out every time they perceived something as part of another religion. This perceived 'war on Christianity' is really a war to not have to be Christian and the unfortunate side effect for Fundamentalists is they got swept out right along with whatever they were having a hissy fit about.

source

A person walking around wearing a Popes hat and swinging incense around in a completely non religious way, I would probably consider a non religious oddity.

reply to post by ToneDeaf


The parts of the article you have posted, were the NCLP's press release... and not 100% honest. They claim that yoga would be the only physical education that would be being taught. Not true, traditional gym class was available, the yoga classes were two hours of additional, optional physical education.

This claim of parents not knowing about the University study is equally silly, if you read the articles posted, in full, you will see there was 100% disclosure and the program was voted on by several Parent Associations.

reply to post by Kali74

What is religious about Yoga?

Yoga is one of the five ways of salvation in Hinduism. That is why it's religious. How would you feel if a school decided to teach your child the proper way to kneel in prayer?

reply to post by octotom


If kneeling were a beneficial exercise and they took the religious aspect out of it...
I wouldn't care and would be glad of it.

reply to post by WhoKnows100

the indoctrination of their child into worshipping gods which are NO GODS and yoking them to spirits?

You might like to ponder this thread

Yahweh=Satan. They have you worshipping evil
www.abovetopsecret.com...

On the Lords Prayer
from answers.yahoo.com...
Historians tell us that the Ten Commandments originated from ancient Egyptian religion, and postulate that the Biblical Jews borrowed the concept after their Exodus from Egypt. Chapter 125 of the Book of the Dead (the Papyrus of Ani) includes a list of things to which a man must swear in order to enter the afterlife. These sworn statements bear a remarkable resemblance to the Ten Commandments in their nature and their phrasing. These statements include "not have I defiled the wife of man," "not have I committed murder," "not have I committed theft," "not have I lied," "not have I cursed god," "not have I borne false witness," and "not have I abandoned my parents." The Book of the Dead has additional requirements, and, of course, doesn't require worship of YHWH.

I'd rather be doing Yoga than following some deimurge you call god

Hmmmm.. MOST western Yoga does no do any religious aspects of it... and no "Aum" or "Om" is not religious aspect(it can be attached but the sound itself has nothing to do with god or any scripture).. its a tranquil sound that suppose to vibrate within you body, and wake spiritual(no to be confused with religious) calmness as you say it... try it now if you like...the "o" sound is extended)

I can 100% guarantee what the children learning is probably simple exercise. In order to learn actual pure spiritual yoga you either have to go to Himalayas or to a Guru.

Some aspect say, a mastered yoga practitioner can awaken "inner" powers. Whatever that is.

reply to post by WhoKnows100

Was it not the teachers and leaders of Judea that swayed the crowds to crucify Our Lord Jesus Christ and release a murderer, insurrectionist and thief? Go to India and see the reality of these practices - rampant bisexuality, caste systems, people taking a poo on the side of a busy road and wiping with their hand, bathing next to dead human bodies, a horrible horrible

No the Sanhedrin judged him, the Roman Pontius Pilate proceeded with the punishment accorded to Insurrectionists

Bet those parents are cool with creationism in science class though...

/rolleyes

Originally posted by octotom
reply to post by Kali74

 

What is religious about Yoga?

Yoga is one of the five ways of salvation in Hinduism. That is why it's religious. How would you feel if a school decided to teach your child the proper way to kneel in prayer?

My daughter kneels to tie her shoe -- is she praying? She doesn't know anything about praying - she has grown up in an agnostic home.

Every track runner knows you have to kneel before the starting line - you are taught to do that in track at school. I don't think they are teaching you how to pray - do you?

reply to post by Kali74
Ummm...You really need to get out more.....Yoga...IS...a spiritual practice...NOT...a stretching exercise. Yoga can bring about psychological and physical reactions that unless a master is present and the student guided throughout the process, can be very detrimental to the uninitiated. There are very powerful energies at play here, not to mention gaining access to and interference with the autonomic nervous system....(heart rate, breathing, endocrine production etc). You can unintentionally access and unsynchronize these delicate systems.

Here are some...VERY... good books on this And I would be very wary of practicing anything in them without a Yogi...This is extremely serious stuff......

1. Light on Yoga.....B.K.S. Iyengar
2. The Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga.....Swami Vishnudevananda
3. Kripalu Yoga (Meditation in motion) Books 1 and 2.....Yogi Amrit Desai
And the very serious
4. The Serpent Power...Sir John Woodroffe.

Yoga is not a thing to be taken lightly, westernized versions of this tradition have relegated it to mere stretching exercises when it is anything but that.

I cant stress enough how powerful these form meditations are...I would certainly not choose to casually allow children to participate in something as profound as yoga....

Before you comment back to me about this.....please research and educate yourself...

With great reward comes great risk...

YouSir

I believe a relevent point is being missed in this thread. I see alot of bashing of this couple and its really ignorant to do so for the following reasons:

Christians believe in meditation...of THE VERSUS IN THEIR BOOK, but not forms of meditation derived from other religious beliefs. Christians believe to do so invokes demonic forces.

Now...you dont have to agree with that...its your perogative, but if you subscribe to a religion, would you not follow that religion to the best of your ability?? If not, arent you being a hypocrate??

I dont subscrive to any religion, but to call these parents names and say how absurd it is that they're suing is asinine. Fact is..there is an all out assault on Christianity for some reason. I for one agree with the parents on this one. It is not up to the state to dictate what is healthy and what is not. Schools should focus on teaching my kid math and science, not yoga positions for cryin out loud. Perhaps when no child is really left behind we can start on Yoga...

I wonder what American Hindus would say if schools forced them to eat beef because its healthy. Or perhaps force fed Muslim children pork because its good for them. It seems that logic is missing in this thread and has been replaced by ignorance.

reply to post by YouSir


That is what you believe, why do I need to research your beliefs? If I wanted to engage in the spiritual aspect of Yoga I wouldn't attend yoga classes at my local gym, I would go to a guru. If I want to simply do an exercise medically proven to be great for your lungs and muscles I will go to my gym.

reply to post by CaptainOblivious


Did you know the number "0" Zero, is an Indian practice?

Please stop using the # 0 and invoking Indian Mathematical demon.

reply to post by CaptainOblivious


Did you miss the part where the program is optional?
Nor is there an all out assault on Christianity, that's absurd.