Agencies
WASHINGTON, APRIL 5
Attempts by yoga opponents in California to twist the ancient Indian practice to present it as religious indoctrination has again been rejected by a US Court. A three-judge panel of the 4th District Court of Appeal upheld a decision by the San Diego Superior Court that the yoga program in the Encinitas School District is ''devoid of any religious, mystical or spiritual trappings.''
''We conclude that the program is secular... (and) does not have the primary effect of advancing or inhibiting religion, and does not excessively entangle the school district in religion,'' the appeals court said in its ruling on Friday.
As reported in this paper earlier in 2013, a lower court judge in California has already ruled that practice that originated in India is now a ''distinctly American cultural phenomenon,'' while dismissing complaints from some parents that teaching it to school children amounted to ''an unconstitutional promotion of Eastern religions.''
Parents of some children had sued to stop the school district from teaching yoga, maintaining it is a religious practice that surreptitiously promoted Hinduism and Buddhism. Funded with $533,000 from the K. Pattabhi Jois Foundation, which is backed by Jois acolytes, hedge-fund billionaire Paul Tudor Jones II and his wife Sonia, the school district had introduced a three-year pilot yoga program in 2011, with twice a week classes in addition to regular physical education.
While some 30 families pulled their children out of the classes, saying teaching of yoga in schools blurred the line between church and state and ''represents a serious breach of the public trust,'' many parents backed the program, which the school said was also aimed at curbing aggressive behavior and bullying.
The school later told the court that it had removed all religious elements from what was taught to the students, including the use of the word Namaste, and substituting the Sanskrit name of asanas with English ones.
For instance, Padmasana, usually called lotus pose in English, was termed ''criss cross apple sauce'' in the Encinitas school program to appeal to children. In fact, the judge in that case went so far as to observe that the yoga taught in Encinitas schools was no different from exercise programs like dodgeball.
He was also irritated that the plaintiffs were not really informed about yoga as taught in the Encinitas schools and had simply got their information from dubious sources on the internet. ''It's almost like a trial by Wikipedia, which isn't what this court does,'' he observed.
The chastisement did not stop the plaintiffs from going to the Appeals Court, which again snubbed them and upheld the ruling of the District Court, which heard and saw weeks of testimony from yoga practitioners and opponents, including live demonstration in courtroom of poses taught to children.
Attorney Dean Broyles, who represented the parents in the lawsuit, said he and his clients ''are disappointed with the decision and we are carefully considering our options,'' - a hint that the matter could even head to the Supreme Court.
