Monday, October 22, 2012

Indoctrination in the schools

From Fox News again (yeah, yeah, I know, but it's a great place to find out how the more rabid theists think): Some parents in a California school district are concerned that their kids are being "indoctrinated" in eastern religions via free Ashtanga yoga classes (funded by the Jois Foundation, "a nonprofit group that promotes Asthanga (sic) yoga"). The attorney called it "unconstitutional," even though the district insists that all religious content has been removed.

Having checked the Ashtanga Yoga site, though, I admit I can see where the parents are coming from. This page discusses spiritual practices associated with this form of yoga, and this discussion about why practitioners should not practice at certain phases of the moon is certainly less than scientific-- in fact I'd call it religious, or at least superstitious, in nature. If all the religious content has been removed, then why is the Jois Foundation still funding it? Is Ashtanga yoga still Ashtanga yoga if it's just poses and breathing?

I confess I'd be wary of this too, just as I'd be wary of a similar program funded by Christians, even if it supposedly had all the religious content removed.

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