California Court Rules School Yoga Program Does Not Violate Constitution

An update on a case  I wrote about in May: a California state court has ruled that including  yoga in an elementary school phys ed program  does not violate the Establishment Clause. Under current Supreme Court precedent, public schools may not endorse any particular religion (or, for that matter, religion generally). In yesterday’s ruling, the San Diego Superior Court reasoned that the Encinitas Union School District has scrubbed religious references from its yoga classes—the Lotus position has been renamed the “Crisscross-Applesauce” pose, for example—so that what remains is merely a fitness and stress-reduction program for kids. The court apparently did not find persuasive the testimony of an Indiana University religious studies professor, Candy Gunther Brown, who argued that yoga, a Hindu practice, is inherently religious. A lawyer for parents who brought the lawsuit against the school district says his clients will likely appeal.