Another Yoga Fatwa- US Christian Pastor Claims Yoga Is "Demonic"

Here we go again, with the Christian religious wackos and their fatwas against Yoga. I wrote last month about another Christian pastor, Albert Mohler (President of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary), who essentially banned practicing Yoga because he deemed it was anti-Christian. I actually emailed Mohler, but have yet to hear back. His reasons were absurd. Now comes a Seattle preacher who has taken this ignorance a step further by calling it "demonic". He too wants all Christians to stop doing Yoga, regardless of the numerous health benefits.

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Pastor Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church, Seattle, is waging a campaign against the increasing popularity of yoga in sports and church halls throughout the United States, warning that it is 'pagan' in its roots.

"Should Christians stay away from yoga because of its demonic roots?

"Totally. Yoga is demonic. If you just sign up for a little yoga class, you're signing up for a little demon class," he said, according to The Seattle Times.

With apparently more than 15 million people practicing Yoga in this country, Christian preachers are starting to get worried. About what, who knows, but they are.

Mohler was concerned about the meditation aspect of Yoga, or the chanting of "om", which is not always a necessary aspect of Yoga practice, especially for those doing it for the health benefits. And what's wrong with meditation? Don't most religions have some form of meditation. It's a way of aligning and communing with God. One would think that was a good thing. But Mohler said

"Christians are not called to empty the mind or to see the human body as a means of connecting to and coming to know the divine. Believers are called to meditate upon the Word of God – an external Word that comes to us by divine revelation – not to meditate by means of incomprehensible syllables,"

Thankfully in addition to Hindu leaders, other Christian leaders stepped up to the plate to condemn the ignorance, at least in India.

"Yoga kills stress, violence and hatred. How can it be called demonic?" asked Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, one of India's leading Hindu spiritual leaders, while a Catholic spokesman said his American colleagues had misunderstood yoga.

Father Emmanuel, of Delhi's Catholic Archdiocese, told a television channel that "many in western countries do not understand what yoga is or how it helps."

"There is a view in some churches that yoga is anti-Christianity. While it is a Hindu practice, it is certainly not anti-Christianity or demonic. One can be a practising Christian and still do yoga," he said.

There are too many intolerant preachers in all of the major religions that need to see beyond their small-minded, ignorant world view, although that doesn't seem likely to happen. As the world get more religiously conservative, there's bound to be major clashes.