Yoga: Physical Exercise or Religious Practice?

Apparently, after hearing about this initiative, both Protestant and Catholic Christians sent a clear message – this is not just exercise, it is Hinduism. Bishop Ivan Osusky of the Evangelical Church of Augsburg Confession commented, “Yoga is not [merely] gymnastics. It leads to individualism, which further leads to belief in reincarnation. It is an onslaught of Hinduism” (“Slovakia”). Slovakia’s Catholic Bishops also protested with a strongly worded communiqué.

Christian Apologist Robert M. Bowman, Jr., of the Institute for the Development of Evangelical Apologetics, seems to agree with the Bishops. In an article for Apologetics Index Bowman argues against Yoga, saying “Does yoga conflict with my religion? You betcha. […] Anything that encourages people to believe that spiritual fulfillment can be attained in any religion […] conflicts with my belief that without Jesus Christ people of all religions (even Christianity!) are lost.”

Milan Ftacnik, Slovak’s Minister of Education, disagrees, instead siding with the Swami. The Hinduism Today coverage quotes Ftacnik as saying, “Yoga has existed here for decades and we have not become a Hindu country. Catholics, Baptists, Hindus or Muslims can practice yoga.” The article notes that Ftacnik does not belong to an organized religion.

At the very least, even the defenders of Yoga must admit that its core purpose is religious in nature. According to Lewis Hopfe and Mark Woodward, “Yoga basically follows the Sankhya system, viewing the world as a dualism and teaching that one should attempt to yoke or join the individual spirit to god, the atman, to Brahman.” The tome also notes “The main feature of Yoga is meditation. Meditation is necessary even for the gods if they are to find release from the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth” (96-97).

Perhaps the real issue occurs in that the clash is between Christianity, which historically rejects pluralistic acceptance of other religions' beliefs and practices, and Hinduism, which as one Swami put it, “believe[s] not only in universal tolerance, but [… also] accept[s] all religions as true” (71). From the Hindu’s perspective, then, it may seem harmless for Christians to participate in Yoga even if it does have religious overtones, perhaps leaving Hindus to wonder what the problem is.

For now, it seems that connection will delay any introduction of Yoga into Slovak classrooms. After the Christian Democratic Movement threatened to cease support for the ruling coalition government, the administration backed off on the program. Should they choose to renew their push for the program, it will no doubt cause the question of Hinduism’s ties to Yoga to be considered much more deeply then previously. With Yoga’s popularity in many nations, including the United States, the results of this debate should prove to have far reaching effects beyond the small CIS nation.

A Nice Treat

My professor and mentor, Dr. Alan Meyers, filled in for his pastor at Oak Hill Presbyterian Church yesterday. I knew that he preached every so often, so I've been asking for awhile for him to let me know when he would be doing so. He let me know last week, so after going to my normal church service (I needed to be there, since my usher team is ushering this month), I went further into the city and got to enjoy a service at Oak Hill.

Not surprisingly, it was a great sermon, and there were a number of interesting elements to the service as well (most out of the ordinary was an electronic oboe that one member played for the communion mediation). The sermon had a really interesting, thought provoking perspective on death and it simply being a “ceasing to be (something).” To freshen up the idea of the old self dying to the new self, Dr. Meyers used a number of metaphors of other changes in life — such as marriage — and how they represent a dying of one self and birth of a new one in much the same way.

Like most good sermons, it was interesting not so much in how many completely new ideas it brought out, but how it makes one look at ideas that have become too routine to really think about.

What a Great Day!

I wish I had time to post about it. Maybe tomorrow?

Playing the System

In my opinion, in the realms of technology presently available, satellite TV is at the bottom, followed by cable and finally the new fiber systems (AT&T U-Verse and Verizon FIOS) are at the top. Given that fiber has not arrived here yet, cable is the lesser of the two evils in my opinion. I like cable's bi-directional abilities, I like having access to community service channels, and I like having the local weather on TWC (call me odd, but even with a computer that can provide instant weather, I still love the Weather Channel).

Given that, every so often I call up Charter to see if they can beat my current Dish Network price. For awhile they did, then they didn't and now they can again… but there's a problem: they don't have any standard, two-tuner Moxi Box DVR's, only four tuner Moxi Box tuners that come with the Moxi Mate for a second TV (it is like a dumb terminal that works with an upgraded Moxi Box). That system is really nice, but it costs a whopping $24.95 extra a month — $10 more than a standard Moxi. It seems there is such a high demand for standard Moxi Boxes that it is impossible to get them for about 1-2 months.

Figuring that U-Verse should be here soon, I decided to call up AT&T. The benefits of AT&T are substantial, if they could beat Charter's deal for Internet and Telephony. Unlike Charter, AT&T can offer a quadruple play (land line, Cingular wireless, DSL and TV). For the moment, AT&T resells Dish Network and I found out that existing Dish customers can not get AT&T | Dish, so even switching to AT&T would not allow the “perfect” bill convergence just yet. But it is still tempting. AT&T offers a package that is $10 cheaper per month than Charter for Internet and Telephony for the first year, plus $3/month off the existing Cingular account, plus $50 in the form of a Visa Gift Card, plus $60 back if you keep the service for four months. All of this is a “buy back” promotion to bring stray customers back into the arms of Baby Ma Bell. After a year, however, the price is $28 more a month than Charter.

Of course, switching is easy, so it might make sense to play the two companies against each other: switch to AT&T now and then in a year, get whatever “buy back” promotion Charter wants to offer. Alternately, I think I'll cut to the chase and see if Charter will try to instill customer loyalty by just giving a better deal right now.

Welcome Dear Feast of Lent

Lent by George Herbert
Welcome deare feast of Lent: who loves not thee,
He loves not Temperance, or Authoritie,
        But is compos'd of passion.
The Scriptures bid us fast; the Church sayes, now:
Give to thy Mother, what thou wouldst allow
        To ev'ry Corporation.

The humble soul compos'd of love and fear
Begins at home, and layes the burden there,
        When doctrines disagree.
He sayes, in things which use hath justly got,
I am a scandall to the Church, and not
        The Church is so to me.

True Christians should be glad of an occasion
To use their temperance, seeking no evasion,
        When good is seasonable;
Unlesse Authoritie, which should increase
The obligation in us, make it lesse,
        And Power it self disable.

Besides the cleannesse of sweet abstinence,
Quick thoughts and motions at a small expense,
        A face not fearing light:
Whereas in fulnesse there are sluttish1 fumes,
Sowre exhalations, and dishonest rheumes,2
        Revenging the delight.

Then those same pendant profits, which the spring
And Easter intimate, enlarge the thing,
        And goodnesse of the deed.
Neither ought other mens abuse of Lent
Spoil the good use; lest by that argument
        We forfeit all our Creed.

It 's true, we cannot reach Christ's fortieth day;
Yet to go part of that religious way,
        Is better than to rest:
We cannot reach our Savior's purity;
Yet are bid, Be holy ev'n as he.
        In both let 's do our best.

Who goeth in the way which Christ hath gone,
Is much more sure to meet with him, than one
        That travelleth by-ways:
Perhaps my God, though he be far before,
May turn, and take me by the hand, and more
        May strengthen my decays.

Yet Lord instruct us to improve our fast
By starving sin and taking such repast
        As may our faults control:
That ev'ry man may revel at his door,
Not in his parlor; banqueting the poor,
        And among those his soul.

Late Night Haiku XI

XXIX.
Confusion abounds,
In the quiet of the night
What treads forward next?

XXX.
What a day it was,
Now conquered by better night,
May sleep come sweetly.

XXXI.
A touch of Spring comes,
Birds rejoice in melody,
Think not of winter.

Ain't Y'all Thinking Nothing Unlike This?

This is an excellent article on the problems of sloppy English writing. I wouldn't suggest it says anything unique, but it does say it well. If nothing else, it was worth reading the whole thing just for this gem at the end:

Tony Long, copy chief at Wired News, believes that all business majors should be required to study Latin and minor in English lit.

Combining Work and Pleasure

If you've noticed I've been quoting a lot of Barth lately, you might guess that I've become quite fond of him. You'd be right. But, it is also because I've had the excuse opportunity to dig into Barthian history and theology lately. One of my projects this semester is to create a master thesis quality annotated bibliography and guess who I'm doing it on? Yup, Barth.

I figured if I don't have time to look into subjects I want to normally, I'll take any opportunity I can to make them part of my course work.

This project is just getting started, so I hope all of you can tolerate a lot more Barth in the mean time. As part of the research, I'm hoping to throw in some of Barth's contemporaries and fellow travelers, which logically sends me to look at Missourians Reinhold and H. Richard Niebuhr as well as Barth's fellow Swiss colleague Emil Brunner.

I hope I don't drive y'all crazy.

Rocking the Boat

“As I look back upon my course, I seem to myself as one who, ascending the dark staircase of a church tower and trying to steady himself, reached for the banister, but got hold of the bell rope instead. To his horror he had then to listen to what the great bell had sounded over him and not over him alone.” (Christian History, 19.1: 23)

It's fascinating reading Barth. I read just a taste of his Epistle to the Romans, and to see him so passionately rejecting the liberal encroachment on the church in the context of the above quote is fascinating. Barth wasn't out to utterly change the course of theology, he was trying to come to terms with a church that had become too materialistic to accomplish anything.

Barth's zeal and focus on Christ is refreshing. He was a latter-day John Calvin or Jonathan Edwards, and like those great men before him, he declared a difficult message to a world that didn't want to hear it. Unfortunately, in the course of things, every so often the church needs someone like these ones to come along and shake things up: to get people back to the central message of the New Covenant.

Today, I think we could use another person who accidentally rings the bell. We have plenty of people who enjoy ringing the bell for no good reason. We have plenty of people who would rather form committees for the study of bell ringing and its impact on social change. Plato's ideal leaders are the ones that do not seek power, and that's what we need here; the original Twelve Apostles didn't want to ring the bell, but they did. The Apostle Paul didn't want to ring the bell but he did. Anselm didn't want to ring the bell. Luther didn't want to ring the bell. The big thing is they all took the challenge laid before them, and the Church is stronger for it.

The question for this century is: by whom will the bell toll?

Just a Teensy Weensy Request

Okay, so I have a request. During the summer months, every four years, we have the Summer Olympic Games. During the summer, I have my normal load of business to take care of, but no school work, so I have more time to watch… only, there aren't that many things I enjoy watching during the Summer Olympics.

Similarly, during the winter months, every four years, we have the Winter Olympic Games. During the winter, I have my normal load of business to take care of, plus deadlines on papers, reading assignments, etc. I have very little time to watch… only, there are many things I enjoy watching during the Winter Olympics.

Would it be that much to ask the IOC to switch to featuring the Winter Games during the Summer and the Summer Games during the winter in the future?

As an aside: wouldn't you rather see all that snow when you're hot in the summer than in the middle of winter when you're cold anyway?