Pat Robertson Warns Yoga Will Have You Speaking Hindu

[cbayer]

http://religiondispatches.org/pat-robertson-warns-yoga-will-have-you-speaking-hindu/

BY ANDREA R. JAIN FEBRUARY 26, 2015

Pat Robertson, the notorious and influential television evangelist and founder of the Christian Coalition of America, is not new to the yogaphobic maelstrom that has been brewing for as long as Western Europeans and North Americans have been familiar with yoga. In the last couple of decades, largely in response to the widespread popularization of yoga, yogaphobia has shot to mainstream attention as socially conservative, high-profile Protestant evangelicals and Catholics have voiced unnerving warnings to Christians about how yoga threatens their religious commitments and could even lead to Satanism.

Robertson’s yogaphobia has gone hand-in-hand with his Hinduphobia. In his apocalyptic novel, The End of the Age (1995), Robertson wrote about a devotee of the Hindu god Shiva who joins forces with the Antichrist to murder the President of the United States. And, in a 2007 episode of his popular program, The 700 Club, Robertson homed in on yoga, describing some aspects as “really spooky.”

Robertson has taken his yogaphobia to a whole new level in a recent 700 Club episode in response to the following question from one of the show’s viewers:

My family recently moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico because of my husband’s work. There are a lot of people interested in New Age spirituality in our new neighborhood—dream catchers, yoga, veganism, that sort of thing. My concern is that my teenage daughter is now interested in taking yoga classes with one of her friends. She says it is healthy and will help her flexibility. I worry because it is not based in Christian faith; it is a Hindu practice. Should I worry? Do you think it is okay for Christians to practice yoga?

Robertson replied that, although stretching exercises are terrific, yoga amounts to a Hindu trap:

But along with yoga, they have a mantra. And the mantra you say is in Hindu. You don’t know what the Hindu says, but actually it’s a prayer to a Hindu deity, and so it sounds like gibberish, and so you’re saying, you know, ‘Kali, Kali, Kali,’ whatever, but you’re praying to a Hindu deity. You don’t want your daughter in that. Stretching exercise is cool, praying to a Hindu deity is not too cool.

more at link

[liberal N proud]

1. That is the funniest thing I have heard today!

[cbayer]

2. I know! And because I am interested in learning other languages,

I am going to start doing yoga…. a lot.

[okasha]

43. Do you think I could learn Chinese

if I took up tai chi?

[cbayer]

47. I don't think you've got anything to lose!

I know that I picked up a great deal of Viet Namese during a love affair with VN food.

[longship]

3. I want that guy to get a body transplant.

Just to preserve that brain, and just for the humor of doing that, so that future generations can continue to laugh at him.

Just saying...

[cbayer]

4. I agree. We are going to lose some comedy gold when he passes on.

Maybe someone will put together a special of all his most priceless comments.

[longship]

6. But who'd want to watch that idiot for those countless hours?

I guess it would be better with a laugh track. Still...

[cbayer]

7. Done right, it could be hilarious.

But I think it has to be post-humorous.

[longship]

9. Well played, my friend.

You win an Internet.

[cbayer]

10. Only one! I really want 14.

[guillaumeb]

26. is your comment

a form of gallows humor? That really was bad.

[cbayer]

28. I am not wishing for his death but

do think mocking him while he is still alive would be too much.

It was a lame attempt at a joke.

[guillaumeb]

30. not a lame attempt at all

he mocks himself with his ridiculous statements far better than anyone else could. A pathetic figure obviously desperate for attention and willing to pander to the hate of ignorant and fearful people.

[cbayer]

33. I misread you completely.

I though you were taking me to task for the gallows humor.

[Warren Stupidity]

49. why the flying fuck would mocking Pat Robertson be bad?

Plus you engage in just that down thread.

[hlthe2b]

5. Finally! Competition for Rosetta Stone!

[cbayer]

8. And I've been wasting all my time on Duolingo!

:doh:

[stone space]

11. So he's worried that Yoga might be educational?

I worry about a lot of things, but a fear of education (even a misplaced fear) is not very high on my list of worries.

[cbayer]

12. It's all about inadvertently lying to the wrong god.

[cbayer]

13. Lol! I typed lying when I meant praying.

That there is one funny Freudian slip.

[stone space]

15. Yeah, I liked the first version better. (nt)

[okasha]

44. I worry that it might be gravitational.

A billboard for a yoga center in my city shows half a dozen people balanced on their toes with their legs folded and their butts cantilevered out over their heels...

[AtheistCrusader]

14. There's no chanting in the yoga studio I go to.

Where does he get this shit?

[Act_of_Reparation]

37. Now, I'm curious...

How in the name of Cheesus do you tuck a carry weapon into yoga pants?

[AtheistCrusader]

40. I only carry a knife there.

[edhopper]

16. Um Pat,

Hindu is a religion, the language is Hindi.

I wonder if he would also say someone who converts would be speaking Jew or Judaism and not Hebrew?

[cbayer]

17. The Hindi issue is problem #1, but that's just the start of it.

[edhopper]

18. It's an insane comment

But he can't even get the ridiculous thing he is saying right.

[cbayer]

19. I suspect the person he is addressing his comments to won't

even notice.

[edhopper]

20. No,

But I would think there are many more of his viewers that do Yoga than he imagines.

[cbayer]

21. And most people do it without chanting.

He's lost. Profoundly lost.

I love that the author calls him a Yogaphobe, lol.

[edhopper]

22. He is confusing

Yoga with meditation. Hard to believe people listen to him.
Religion does make some people ignorant.

[cbayer]

23. Religion doesn't make people ignorant. Some ignorant people are religious...

and some aren't.

[edhopper]

24. I didn't say stupid

I said ignorant. The choose to not acceptwhat's real.
Cause of their faith. Religion blinds them.

[cbayer]

25. Religion doesn't make people ignorant. Some religious people are ignorant,

and some are most certainly not.

People are blinded by many things and everyone accept's what is not real to one degree or another.

[edhopper]

27. You have misstated what I said

I explicitly and obviously was talking about some Robertson followers.
Your insistence to give religion a pass and remove any blame for it isn't worth refuting.
So, I don't need to say any more here.

[cbayer]

29. Oh, I missed the explicit and obvious part.

Clearly Robertson and some of his followers are ignorant.

I don't remove all blame and I frequently take religion to task. This OP alone is clear evidence of that.

I defend against broad statements which cast the religious in a negative light without making a differentiation.

I agree that you have said enough.

[edhopper]

35. Okay, then

[Dorian Gray]

31. Oh No!!!!

You might learn a few words in another language! The horror!

[cbayer]

36. The word he chooses (Kali) doesn't even appear to be a Hindi word.

The closest I can find is Kaali, which means black.

काली

[Rainforestgoddess]

38. Ummm

[cbayer]

41. So much for google translate.

[Curmudgeoness]

39. Here you go.

The result of a Google search that took 0.37 seconds.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kali

[cbayer]

42. I used google translate, so I missed that.

[AtheistCrusader]

45. Would you type the proper name 'Bob' into google translate and expect something?

Besides, Kali is just an aspect of Parvati. Some say 'fierce', some say 'motherly'.

After all, threaten a she-bear's cub, and you'll find fierce and motherly may not be different issues.

[Act_of_Reparation]

46. I'll admit my knowledge of Hinduism is pretty shaky...

With it being one of the oldest surviving religions, and with it utterly lacking a central dogma or authoritative text, it can be really tricky to speak about it save in very broad generalities.

Along those lines, I think one's interpretation of Kali is pretty geographical. Bengalis took a particular fondness for the consort of Siva in the 18th century and even today there is a strong tradition of Kali-worship in the region. Elsewhere, it would appear Durga--being slightly less unhinged--is the preferred aspect of Parvati.

In any event, I think the traditional view of Kali is that she is the embodiment of time and death--unstoppable, merciless power. She's often depicted standing upon the prostrate body of Siva, just to drive the point home: she can't, and won't, be controlled.

[okasha]

50. Actually, it's Shiva

who is the embodiment of Time. Kali represents the darkness both before the beginning of Time and after its end.

[woodsprite]

32. They should just change their version of yoga to 700 Club "Christian Relaxation and Positioning"

or "700 Club CRAP" for short

Just like CDD (Christian Domestic Discipline) being the Christian version of BSDM.

because it's Pat Robertson. He could even wear yoga pants if he wanted to and his backup women could have big hair and tons of makeup on their CRAP videos. I think there's a marketing opportunity there.

[cbayer]

34. 700 Club CRAP!?!?! Hilarious.

I am picturing this video and strongly encouraging you to proceed.

[Warren Stupidity]

48. Is this Good Mockers or Bad Mockers?

I get so confused about which religion mockers we are allowed. The rules seem so fuzzy.

[AlbertCat]

51. And the mantra you say is in Hindu.

Speaking "Hindu"? Hell, I can't understand the gibberish when people speak Christian!



What a moron. "Hindu" is not a language. Hindi is.

And mantras....traditional ones.... are most likely in Sanskrit

[AlbertCat]

52. Yoga tries to: "achieve happiness through achieving peace of mind."

See.... just the opposite of Christianity!

Be afraid!!! Help I'm being persecuted!!!!

[truebrit71]

53. I only speak Hindu after a fiery vindaloo....

.... at least I think it's Hindu I'm speaking....