DALLAS (ABP) — Two Baptist panelists on a newspaper discussion blog had differing takes on recent comments by a Southern Baptist leader urging Christians to avoid yoga.
Al Mohler
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Texas Faith, a regular feature of the Dallas Morning News website, invited panelists Oct. 19 to react to a column by Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, warning that "Christians who practice yoga are embracing, or at minimum flirting with, a spiritual practice that threatens to transform their own spiritual lives into a 'post-Christian, spiritually polyglot' reality. Should any Christian willingly risk that?"
Sam Hodges, the reporter moderating the discussion, asked 12 panelists from various faith traditions about whether they agree with Mohler. "Are there cautions you would give to Westerners who want to borrow from non-Western religious traditions?" he asked. "Or should everyone, including Al Mohler, just limber up and chill out?"
Jim Denison, theologian in residence for the Baptist General Convention of Texas and a regular columnist for Associated Baptist Press, pointed out that the dictionary defines Yoga with a capital "Y" as "a Hindu theistic philosophy." The lower-case form describes a series of exercises "originally used to advance Yoga."
"Millions of Americans are apparently happy to adopt and adapt yoga with little or no knowledge of Yoga," Denison, president of the Center for Informed Faith, wrote. "But is this a good idea?"
Jim Denison
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"Albert Mohler doesn't think so," he continued. "In his view, 'When Christians practice yoga, they must either deny the reality of what yoga represents or fail to see the contradictions between their Christian commitments and their practice of yoga.'"
"While I disagree with Dr. Mohler on a variety of subjects, I find myself persuaded by his logic here," Denison said. "Christianity and Hinduism are contradictory worldviews. Jesus taught that 'whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life' (John 3:16). Hinduism embraces reincarnation, thousands of gods, and eventual 'moksha' whereby one is absorbed into Brahman and ceases to exist. If one is right, the other is wrong."
George Mason, senior pastor of Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas, meanwhile, observed that Mohler "seems to be on the prowl these days to purge all impurities from Christian practice."
"The problem is that Christianity is always and has always been at work adjudicating spiritual reality rather than summarily rejecting everything it doesn't create itself," Mason said.
Mason compared Mohler's logic to the historical "bonfire of the vanities" in 15th-century Italy, when a Dominican priest named Girolamo Savonarola ordered the burning of objects — including books and art — in Florence he deemed as tempting people to sin.
George Mason
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"Christianity has long flourished by critical engagement with rather than a priori rejection of other spiritual practices than those originating within the Christian faith," Mason said. "Should Alcoholics Anonymous be rejected as a recovery program because some might take a Higher Power to mean something other than the Father of Jesus Christ?"
"Spiritual practices like yoga can be infused with Christian meaning without opening the door to New Age thinking," Mason said. "It requires knowing what one believes and why, but Mohler's alternative of rejecting everything outside his world view of the Christian faith is not a healthy or faithful approach to a God who is also at work in the world outside of the Christian community."
Other columnists included Amy Martin, executive director of Earth Rhythms and writer/editor for Moonlady Media.
"Mohler strikes me as having little faith in his faith," Martin commented. "Atheists by the millions gather in China every morning for tai chi, an ancient practice arising from Taoism, and have managed to stay godless. I'm sure Christians can practice yoga and remain faithful while gaining immense health and emotional benefits that, frankly, only a cruel person would deny them."
Martin said Mohler "expresses a fear of the body that has too long dominated Christianity."
"This opinion holds that being in touch with the body, expressing joy and spirituality through the physical, is counter to being a person of faith," she said. "This unfounded but deep-seated assumption has shown up in more than just a fear of yoga, reaching its natural extremes as hatred towards homosexuals and distrust of women."
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Bob Allen is senior writer for Associated Baptist Press.
Related ABP story:
SBC leader's critique of yoga sparks controversy among Christians (10/12/2010)