The first instinct is to dismiss the parents as yahoos who dont know the difference between yoga and yogurt.

But the second instinct, usually the better angel, is to try to understand whats going on here.

A group of families, maybe 40 altogether, is raising Cain with the Encinitas Union School District over free twice-a-week yoga sessions. Fired up by a local pastor and counseled by an Escondido lawyer, they believe yoga on campus amounts to spiritual indoctrination, a violation of their religious freedom.

In time for Halloween, the culture war is back with a full spinal twist.

In the early 90s, you may recall, North County school districts were inundated with breathless reports that teachers were exposing innocent children to dark books, R-rated movies and witchcraft.

Yoga, it seems, is the latest variation on the oft-repeated theme that Christian values are being undermined by multicultural public schools.

Look, its not news that Christians, from Baptists to Catholics, hear a few Sanskrit words and conclude that yoga is a Hindu religious practice. Or worse.

Two years ago, a southern Baptist minister set off a national firestorm when he preached that yoga is paganism, pure and simple.

Last year, the Salvation Army community center in Rolando risibly renamed its yoga classes stretch and tone to cleanse them of mystical overtones.

As Juliet (dressed in Lululemon) might say, Would a pose by any other name feel as sweet?

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Encinitas parents bent out of shape over yoga on campus