A California appeals court recently ruled that schools can proceed with yoga instruction - in spite of parents' protests.
A San Diego school district announced yoga as a part of the physical education curriculum in 2011, but Stephen and Jennifer Sedlock claimed their children's religious freedom was being trampled upon.
The Sedlocks said yoga promotes Hinduism at the expense of Christianity, and questioned the Encinitas District's decision to hire full-time yoga instructors.
"No other court in the past 50 years has allowed public school officials to lead children in formal religious rituals like the Hindu liturgy of praying to, bowing to, and worshipping the sun god," the plaintiff's attorney, Dean Broyles, said in a statement.
About 5,600 students across the district are instructed in Ashtanga yoga twice a week for 30 minutes thanks to a grant.
Paul V. Carelli IV, an attorney for the school district, said there is no sun worshipping or other religious rituals involved in the exercise. He insisted that the instruction is solely to promote flexibility, balance, and strength. The appellate judges agreed.
"We conclude that the programme is secular in purpose, does not have the primary effect of advancing or inhibiting religion and does not excessively entangle the school district in religion," Justice Cynthia Aaron wrote in the decision.
"The district's yoga programme does not violate our state constitution."
The Sedlocks are reportedly exploring their appeal options, and are not alone in believing Christians shouldn't practise yoga.
Father Gabriele Amorth, the former chief exorcist at the Vatican, compared the exercise to the witchcraft practised in "Harry Potter" books.
"Practicing yoga is Satanic, it leads to evil just like reading 'Harry Potter,'" he said in 2011. "They may both seem innocuous but they both deal with magic and that leads to evil."
