Where we lead, the world follows:
City to ban Yoga for its occult nature:
When rumors began swirling that authorities in the central Russian city of Nizhnevartovsk intended to ban yoga, practitioners of the ancient Indian discipline thought it was a prank.
It soon turned out Nizhnevartovsk officials were dead serious.
Several yoga studios received letters from city authorities asking them to stop holding classes in municipal buildings in an effort to "prevent the spread of new religious cults and movements."
Private studios started to receive the warnings, too...
The yoga controversy started in late June, when a leaked letter from Nizhnevartovsk's department for social and youth affairs referring to the "occult" character of yoga appeared on the Internet.
The letter instructed the city's culture, sports, and education department to "take measures to stop the practice of yoga in municipal institutions."
It described yoga as "inseparably connected to religious practices" and called on city officials to curb the spread of practices "of a destructive religious nature."
If only there were an America Vladmir Putin. Why?
From Jesus-Is-Savior:
The Bible forbids us to have any dealings with the occultic New-Age Movement.
Deuteronomy 18:10-12, "There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD..."
Witchcraft (divination): a means for extracting information or guidance from a pagan god.
When most people think of witchcraft, they think of worshipping the Devil. Howbeit, most people that worship the devil, do NOT worship him directly—They worship idols or other pagan gods. Did you know that behind every idol is a demon! Read the following Scripture:`
1st Corinthians 10:19-20, "What say I then? that the idol is any thing, or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is any thing? But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils."
There is a real danger in playing with the occult. Charms, idols (statues), crystals, tarot cards, candles, potions, magic recipes, astrology, horoscopes, palm-readings, fortune-tellers, psychics, crystal-balls, spells, trinkets, etc.—There are demons behind all of these!!!
Before-it's_News.com:
Yoga is a very evil practice wrapped in a pretty package that takes you away from Jesus Christ and opens you up to Hindu demons.
The entire “New Age” movement was created by new world order satanists and is designed to take you to hell with satan.
Even lukewarm ("mainstream")
Christians agree:
"Should Christians stay away from yoga because of its demonic roots?" asked megachurch pastor Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church in Washington state. "Totally. Yoga is demonic. If you just sign up for a little yoga class, you're signing up for a little demon class."
The former Vatican chief exorcist agreed. "Practicing yoga is Satanic, it leads to evil just like reading Harry Potter," Father Gabriele Amorth said in 2011. His objection: Yoga derives from Hinduism, a heathen religion that says there is reincarnation. Pope John Paul II in 1989 also warned against the dangers of yoga as a seduction of spiritual seekers that "can degenerate into a cult of the body."
GOP Candidate E.W. Jackson:
When one hears the word meditation, it conjures an image of Maharishi Yoga talking about finding a mantra and striving for nirvana. . . . The purpose of such meditation is to empty oneself. . . . [Satan] is happy to invade the empty vacuum of your soul and possess it. That is why people serve Satan without ever knowing it or deciding to, but no one can be a child of God without making a decision to surrender to him. Beware of systems of spirituality which tell you to empty yourself. You will end up filled with something you probably do not want.
Update: There is a risk of counterproductivity in brute force tactics like bannings, and talk of Lullulemon-wearing lesbian witch covens. An alternate approach is copy the
tactics that feminists use to keep nerds in their place. I call them Christian Justice Warrior tactics:
I have been to several yoga classes. The last one I attended consisted of about thirty women, plus me (this was in Ireland; I don’t know if American yoga has a different gender balance).
We propose two different explanations for this obviously significant result.
First, these yoga classes are somehow driving men away. Maybe they say mean things about men (maybe without intending it! we’re not saying they’re intentionally misandrist!) or they talk about issues in a way exclusionary to male viewpoints. The yoga class should invite some men’s rights activists in to lecture the participants on what they can do to make men feel comfortable, and maybe spend some of every class discussing issues that matter deeply to men, like Truckasaurus.