Public Theology & Christian Living

A Trojan Horse Parked at the State House

Culture

by Clete Hux –

I could say I told you so. Understand, I’m not a prophet nor the son of one, but I knew that when the ban on the practice of yoga in public classrooms K – 12 in the state of Alabama was lifted a couple of years ago that it would be a short time before we would see more disturbing results of such lifting of the ban.

The National Day of Prayer in May of this year at the Alabama House of Representatives was an example. From its inception in 1818, the Alabama Legislature, as well as the more recently established National Day of Prayer, has begun with prayer asking the help of the Judeo-Christian God. However, this year the historical practice changed from a one God prayer petition to a many gods prayer petition when Rajan Zed, President of the Universal Society of Hinduism, opened the session with a Hindu prayer and a planned recitation of Hindu hymns and scriptures. What a welcome to religious pluralism in the state legislature! It is safe to say that things will never be the same at the State House or on the National Day of Prayer. Move over monotheists…make way for the polytheists and pantheists.

Zed was the guest of State Rep. Jeremy Gray (D-Opelika), a yogi who was responsible for getting his legislation passed that lifted the ban on yoga and now allows it to be taught in the state’s schools. Such a ban was in place according to state regulations for 29 years. Gray’s push for this is not surprising because he owns a fitness business, Elevate Your Grind, where he teaches yoga and eastern meditation. With his background, Gray used the ignorance of the general public and apparently some lawmakers to his advantage when introducing his bill. He basically admitted he used such ignorance in 2021 when he told the Montgomery Advertiser, “I had to make it where it’s more about stretching, breathing, and meditation as opposed to embodying the whole concept of yoga”.

With those words, Rep. Gray tried to make something that is religious by nature be translated into something that is only physical. He used the words stretching and breathing, but he also included meditation, which the previous ban on yoga specifically prohibited because of its Eastern religious connotation and its dissociative nature. During the same time period, Gray affirmed that meditation was included when he posted through his Facebook account, “Fix the man, fix the world” #InsideJob, “It was a great honor and privilege to talk to the at-risk teenagers at ‘Second Chance’ this morning about the importance of implementing yoga, mindfulness, meditation, and control breathing into their daily routine.”

Gray’s trojan horse approach to getting his legislation passed might be seen by some as having had the wool pulled over legislators’ eyes. And, according to reports, it seems that some legislators may have felt that way even though a Hindu-led prayer session was planned. Greg Davis, CEO of Alabama Citizens Action Program (ALCAP), said some lawmakers were displeased with the National Day of Prayer being opened with a Hindu prayer, calling the situation odd and disturbing.

According to 1819news.com, Zed was prepared to pray longer but was cut short, due to others representing Christianity chipping in with prayers. The same report shows Representatives Wilcox, Rigsby, and Sellers offering theirs. Indeed, religious pluralism ruled the day of prayer in Montgomery. Perhaps it was the nature of this that prompted Rep. Sellers to speculate about the “chitter-chatter” that was taking place over the Hindu-led prayer when he said, “Never let us miss the differences within our culture, our training and our rearing. And me and [State Rep. Russell] Bedsole was just talking: what happens one day [when] we all get to heaven and we see people that we think wasn’t supposed to be in heaven.”

Permit a little not politically correct critique here: First, all of us aren’t going to be in heaven. It is a religious pluralist who would hold such a position. Second, it is also from such a position that no distinction would be made between Hindus and Christians. This is the sentiment that insinuates that we’re all God’s children. However, according to scripture, this is clearly not true. Jesus said so in his many I AM claims that he is the only way to heaven, which occurs by being brought to life by Him.

I tell people often that the reason why there are so many different religions in the world is because religions are different in how the major topics of life are interpreted or defined, i.e. the nature of God. The gods of Hinduism are not the same as the God of Christianity. In Hinduism, the concept of god is Brahman, made up of millions of gods/deities, and is pantheistic. In other words, all is god/god is all. These are the pagan gods Zed prayed to and invoked as he opened the day of prayer. He had planned to read from Hindu scriptures such as The Bhagavad Gita, which promotes the Hindu practices of reincarnation and deity worship.

In total contrast to the pagan gods of Hinduism, the God of Christianity, as revealed in the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, is One by nature and shares His glory with no other gods. It’s hard enough for some to understand their own Christian religion, and much harder to understand Hinduism with a totally different worldview and its yoga practices that are contrary to a monotheistic view.

In closing, remember this: Yoga and Hinduism are the same. Because yoga means union instead of separation, it has an intrinsic and inseparable relationship to Hinduism. There is no Hinduism without yoga and no yoga without Hinduism. This becomes more understandable when you think of yoga as the way of salvation in Hinduism.

Perhaps an illustration would be helpful. Christ is to the Christian what yoga is to the Hindu. What Christ is to Christianity, yoga is to Hinduism. Christ is the Christian’s salvation. Yoga is the Hindu’s salvation. For the Christian, Christ is the liberator from the bondage of sin. Similarly, yoga is the Hindu’s liberator or moksha from the bondage of karma and reincarnation.

It has become common in today’s “woke” culture to redefine things away from their original context and meaning. Yoga practices in the classrooms of Alabama and throughout western civilization are no exception. We should have seen this coming. The Trojan Horse is here!

Notes:

https://arcanswers.org/attempts-to-secularize-yoga-in-alabama-schools/

https://arcanswers.org/alabama-schools-to-teach-new-age-yoga/

https://arcanswers.org/is-yoga-religious-yes/

https://arcanswers.org/what-is-yoga/

See more at www.arcapologetics.org