Southern Baptist Minister Issues 'Fatwa' Against Yoga

Every religion has its fringe elements, those who have absolutely no ability to see beyond their stringent, incredibly limited religious world view. Then, they attempt to force others to see things through the prism of their dark-colored glasses. The Muslims have the most, with their ridiculous and bizarre, never-ending fatwas for this or that which issue forth from the mouths of clerics and imams all over the world at a regular pace. But Christians and Jews have had some strange 'fatwas' of their own, the most recent Christian one echos a ban that some Imams in Malaysia and Indonesia promoted- yoga is un-Christian. Yes, now some Baptist minister seems to think that yoga is not something Christians should practice, so he's in essence issuing a fatwa against it, or the Christian equivalent to a fatwa, whatever that might be.

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Albert Mohler, is no better than some Malaysian imam when he claims on a commentary on his website

Yoga begins and ends with an understanding of the body that is, to say the very least, at odds with the Christian understanding. 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.

Nevertheless, a significant number of American Christians either experiment with yoga or become adherents of some yoga discipline. Most seem unaware that yoga cannot be neatly separated into physical and spiritual dimensions. The physical is the spiritual in yoga, and the exercises and disciplines of yoga are meant to connect with the divine.

"Christians who practice yoga are embracing, or at minimum flirting with, a spiritual practice that threatens to transform their own spiritual lives into a 'post-Christian, spiritually polyglot' reality."

What he fails to realize is that to many people yoga is a healthful way of de-stressing and exercising.

David Waters in the Washington Post has a good counterpoint to Mohler's criticism of yoga.

Yoga, the Hindu-inspired spiritual practice that bears a strong resemblance to stretching, is said to relieve pain and lower blood pressure, boost mental (and spiritual) awareness and reduce stress.

Waters has some salient points to consider, since it's not just Christians who are worried about yoga:

Some Hindus are concerned that yoga has been confiscated. Some Muslims are concerned that Hindus are using yoga as a tool of conversion. Buddhists remain detached from the issue. But some Christians are concerned that practicing yoga will lead to theological confusion.

Should Christians or Muslims or any non-Hindus practice yoga? If they practice the physical aspects of the ancient spiritual discipline, should they call it yoga?

Good grief, I think everyone just needs to chill out. If someone wants to practice yoga, whether simply for exercise benefits or infusing some eastern spirituality into their lives, then let them. I think all these people just need to get a life.