Do you think it's possible to be spiritually corrupted by yoga?No, us neither.
But the Rev Amanda Roper, from Bridge Methodist Church in Radcliffe, near Manchester, has banned an over 50s yoga group because she believes that the exercise is not Christian.
The group, which has 30 members aged up to 82, has met at the church for the last ten years.
However, Rev Roper, who recently took over as minister, believes that yoga, which is linked to Hinduism and Buddhism, could be preaching the rival religions and she fears that class members may be 'spiritually vulnerable.'
She said: 'The teaching implied through the spiritual and physical exercises confuses the distinctiveness of the Christian faith.'
Group founder member Iris Turner, 64, said: 'This is an insult. Her views are extreme. We are hurt, disappointed and offended.'
The group are now looking for new premises.
Are yoga and Christianity incompatible? Leave a comment below...
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Thursday 29 July
By Super Sparks
Lets hope the local mosque has space available, eh?
Reply
Friday 13 August
By Susan Harris
Let's get the facts right. It may have been the Rev Roper who started the discussion but the motion not to have a yoga class was voted on by the church council & narrowly passed. Personally I don't think that yoga as practised in a western way is incompatible with Christianity,although some types of classes would be totally inappropriate to be run in a church hall. I regularly go to yoga classes & was on the church council at the time & at the meeting where this discussion took place. Rightly or wrongly, the church council passed the Rev Roper's motion that however secular the class may be, that yoga had its origins in a different religion to Christianity & doesn't believe that the church hall is the right place for a yoga class, however secular that class might be. Personally I disagree, but that's what a democratic vote's about. The way the article was written paints Rev Roper as some kind of autocratic fundamentalist, which couldn't be further from the truth.
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Thursday 02 September
By John Bowdery
This is a very gracious helpful posting. Personally as a Chistian who has experienced much of the love of God in very trying family circumstances I wd tend to agree with the Rev Roper and applaud what must have been a difficult stand for her. But I also appreciatre the love and desire for truth and continued relationship in this posting too. God's love is real but so too are spiritual forecs which wd oppose it and Christians are right to be aware of these and act accordingly.
God bless
John
Thursday 02 September
By john ayres
the church should stop interfering in honest everyday activities, and put its own house in order.
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Thursday 02 September
By Stephen Mason
I think this is a difficult issue. I know little about yoga, and have heard that when practised in a western way it may be non-spiritual. Although it's had great recommendations for stress-relief etc. by psychology and medicine (which have not acknowledged spiritual / supernatural properties), I would be careful of it as a Christian - according to what I think the ex-Hindu guru Rabindranath R. Maharaj said about true yoga in his autobiographical book 'Death of a Guru', I would stay away from it, as I think he was familiar to spiritual properties of it which were not of God.
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