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Sunday, Sep 02, 2007
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New Delhi/London: Reacting sharply to the ban on yoga classes in two churches in England, yoga exponent Baba Ramdev and a Catholic priest said on Saturday the decision stemmed from “ignorance.” “To relate yoga with religion is nothing but ignorance. There is nothing to suggest in the yoga texts that it is against Christianity,” Baba Ramdev said. Delhi Catholic Archdiocese spokesperson Emmanuel Dominic said that the action was owing to “lack of sufficient knowledge about what yoga is.” On Friday, two vicars banned a children’s exercise class from their church halls because it was teaching yoga, describing yoga as “sham and un-Christian.” Louise Woodcock (41), who was looking for a new home for her ‘Yum Yum Yoga Class’ for toddlers, was turned away by Silver Street Baptist Church and St. James’s Anglican Church in Taunton, Somerset. Ms. Woodcock told Th e Times that the ban was ridiculous as the classes merely involved music and movement with no religious content. “I explained to the church that my yoga is completely non-religious. Some types of adult yoga are based on Hindu and Buddhist meditation. But it is not part of the religion and there is no dogma involved,” she said. Ms. Woodcock was given permission originally to use the hall at Silver Street Baptist Church for a children’s activity group. Rev. Simon Farrar withdrew his consent after discovering it was for yoga. She was then turned away from St James’s Church for the same reason. “Not in our ethos”
Defending the decision, Rev. Farrar said, “We are a Christian organisation and when we let rooms to people we want them to understand that they must be fully in line with our Christian ethos. Clearly, yoga impinges on the spiritual life of people in a way which we as Christians do not believe is the same as our ethos.” “If it was just a group of children singing nursery rhymes, there would not be a problem but she called it yoga and, therefore, there is a dividing line we are not prepared to cross,” he said. Rev. Tim Jones, Vicar of St. James’s, said, “Yoga has its roots in Hinduism, and attempts to use exercises and relaxation techniques to put a person into a calm frame of mind - in touch with some kind of impersonal spiritual reality. The philosophy of yoga cannot be separated from the practice of it, and any teacher of yoga, even to toddlers, must subscribe to the philosophy.” — PTI
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