WASHINGTON D.C., U.S., July 10, 2019 (Washington Post by Candy G. Brown): The American Center for Law and Justice is challenging public-school mindfulness programs for endorsing Buddhism. This is not the first time religious conservatives have argued that schools violate the First Amendment by establishing non-Christian religions. In 2013, the National Center for Law & Policy, supported by Alliance Defending Freedom, sued a California school district for advancing Hinduism through yoga. Thousands of schools have begun to use yoga and/or mindfulness techniques with the goals of reducing stress and improving learning. Schools that use these approaches argue that yoga and mindfulness techniques are scientifically validated to teach life skills and develop character by helping kids learn to be compassionate, kind and nonjudgmental.
But many Christians, Jews and Muslims in the United States and globally argue that yoga and meditation–even when used as a physical warm-up or to reduce stress–are fundamentally religious activities connected with Hinduism and Buddhism. Even some Hindus and Buddhists consider it inappropriate to teach these practices in public schools. Many of the most vocal critics of school yoga and mindfulness are conservative Christians who lost the battle for school prayer and Bible reading. These Christians worry that schools now coerce children to practice other religions. But complaints go deeper than suggesting courts bar one religion yet allow another. Many critics charge that school yoga and mindfulness pressure kids to commit idolatry — which Christians, Jews and Muslims consider the worst of all religious transgressions.
Candy Brown is the author of “Debating Yoga and Mindfulness in Public Schools,” the full article can be viewed at “source” above.