Is doing yoga at a public school really unconstitutional?

Posted: February 24, 2013 at 9:53 am


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A California family and a legal group are suing a public school district for allowing yoga instructors to teach students, saying the practice causes a constitutional conflict.

For now, the National Center for Law & Policy says the policy at the Encinitas Union School District near San Diego violates three provisions of Californias state constitution, including one provision about prohibiting government religious preference and religious discrimination.

The lawsuit, filed in San Diego Superior Court, touches on broader issues about religious expression at publicly funded schools.

Dean Broyles from the NCLP is representing the family of two young students in the Encinitas Union School District.

This is frankly the clearest case of the state trampling on the religious freedom rights of citizens that I have personally witnessed in my 18 years of practice as a constitutional attorney, Broyles said in a statement. The program is extremely divisive and has unfortunately led to the harassment, discrimination, bullying, and segregation of children who, for good reasons, opt out of the program.

Constitution Daily first reported on this story in October 2012, when Broyles and the school district were discussing his complaints about a program, funded by an Ashtanga yoga institute, which was approved for schools. At the time, the school district said it didnt plan to stop the program.

The program was not after hours; the yoga sessions were part of the schools curriculum.

Broyles now contends that Ashtanga yoga is inherently and pervasively religious. He is seeking to have an injunction issued to stop the program and isnt seeking monetary damages.

Encinitas Superintendent Timothy Baird told ABC News this week that students are only doing some Ashtanga poses and that the sessions are a typical P.E. class.

I believe what he is saying is just the motions of the yoga stretching is somehow invoking Hinduismand in America, where 90 to 95 percent of the practitioners are not even Hindu, Baird said.

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Is doing yoga at a public school really unconstitutional?

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February 24th, 2013 at 9:53 am

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