Pope Benedict has never approved of the wholesale adoption of yoga. He said, however, that it is ok to take bits and pieces from yoga as long as they don’t detract from God.
God is First. Nothing in prayer should detract from that. Yoga can be transformed into meditation of God, the God of Christianity. I still do not see a problem.I think you kind of missed the point of +Ratzingers statement.
Hurray, I didn’t have to say it! Basically, what it boils down to is, both pagans and Christians pick calendar dates that are significant, like solstices and equinoxes. So do Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, Korean shamans, and Muslims. Duh…because humans live on a planet with seasons, maybe?
"The Christmas tree is often explained as a Christianization of the ancient pagan idea that the evergreen tree represents a celebration of the renewal of life.[citation needed] In actuality, when the Roman Empire was converted en masse to Christianity, many cultures did not give up their pagan ideals and traditions and so they were incorporated into the Christmas tradition. If the old church wanted to remove a tradition or religion, they did. For example the Serapem in the Library at Alexandria was destroyed because it had Pagan Idols."
"Historically, this date has been venerated in the practice of Voodoo. The famous Voodoo priestess Marie Laveau was said to have held ceremonies involving Voodoo ritual on the Bayou St. John in New Orleans, commemorating St. John's Eve. Modern day practioners of Voodoo have kept the tradition alive."December 25 was also considered to be the date of the winter solstice, which the Romans called bruma.[7] It was therefore the day the Sun proved itself to be "unconquered" despite the shortening of daylight hours. (When Julius Caesar introduced the Julian Calendar in 45 BC, December 25 was approximately the date of the solstice. In modern times, the solstice falls on December 21 or 22.) The Sol Invictus festival has a "strong claim on the responsibility" for the date of Christmas, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia.[2] Solar symbolism was popular with early Christian writers[12] as Jesus was considered to be the "sun of righteousness."[13]"Would you care to explain how a ‘pagan’ custom first appeared in the 16th century with no prior references?
Oh yea, and WIKIpedia is the fount of all truth. Jeepers its an online encyclopedia that ANYONE can add to. Using WIKI as your source of Info is not a good idea
Did the OP indicate that it was a christain incorporation Yoga ? or is the gym being used for Yoga?
Yeah, using wikipedia is so trivial and useless, pretty much like letting a yoga class using a high school classroom.
Also, the quote mentioned that some of the pagan traditions were kept when people converted, and some were scrapped when the tradition in question was used to worship another deity. Please point out where I said that yoga should be used by Catholics to worship another deity. You won't find one. Also, the statement by Cardinal Ratzinger condemned New Age and Yoga because they were used for non-christian practices. Has he condemned the same if they were used to worship God?Rubbishy ideas are always dangerius, but some much less than others. Breathing exercises and the like encourage a magical attitude to health, which encourages anti-science, and then a magical attitude to other areas of life.
You and I are on the same page here. The OP has not mentioned if the students are in it or not. From what I see, this particular class just needs room and it just so happens that it is at a Catholic school.Isn’t that the truth!! My 13 year old was “editing” Wikipedia today with his friends. They now know to never use it as a reliable source!
