California Judge Rules That Yoga is OK for Kids

Have you always been bothered by how religious yoga is, and consequently felt angered by the fact that it's taught in public schools, despite the so-called separation of church and state?

Er, yah...us too?

Parents in the state of California certainly were, so much so that they actually went to court about yoga being taught in schools. Now, on Monday, a judge has ruled that it's actually totally fine for a public school district to teach yoga. Shocker.

The plaintiffs argued that the classes taught at the nine campuses of the Encinitas Union School District were inherently and pervasively religious because yoga is rooted in Hinduism and Buddhism, not to mention other metaphysical practices and beliefs.

The parents also suggested that the lessons—which are funded by a nonprofit group based in Encinitas that promotes yoga—are basically a sly way of indoctrinating students. Testimony even called on an expert professor of religious studies who suggested that yoga is a gateway drug to the occult. Really.

The parents filed the suit against the district back in February, demanding that the teaching of the program be banned, and on Tuesday, Superior Court Judge John S. Meyer rejected the claim, pointing out that the school district had excluded all cultural references, including the Sanskrit language, from the program.

Just to be safe, certain positions have actually been renamed by the program: the lotus position is now the "crisscross applesauce" pose, for example.

"If yoga is a religion and has religious aspects, it doesn't belong in the public schools," the parent's attorney said. "There is a consistent anti-Christian bias in these cases and a pro-Eastern or strange religion bias."

Good point, Dean. We wouldn't any more of these anti-Christian evangelists running around.