Unusual Laws, Chapter 239. While it's officially forbidden to be drunk at a bingo night in North Carolina, to sell poor quality cheese in Wisconsin, and even to share your Netflix password with those around you in Tennessee, a state has taken a step to repeal one of its surprising laws.
Since 1993, it has been prohibited to learn yoga in public schools in Alabama. In this state's law, called yoga ban , this sport is considered a "Hindu philosophy" and a "religious training".
Conservatives upset
"A lot of people weren't even aware that [the law] exists," Jeremy Gray, a Democratic representative for the southern state, told NBC. Elected in 2018, the latter has only recently learned of the existence of yoga ban and is behind a bipartisan bill which will soon be studied in the House of Representatives next week in order to lift the ban.
The law will allow school districts to offer yoga as an optional course. But frames will also be placed to avoid falling into the spiritual realm. The bill explicitly specifies that all "instruction shall be limited to poses, exercises and stretching methods".
The religious conservatives have already expressed their dissatisfaction in the media. Among them, Joe Godfrey, director of a Christian association, expressed his dissatisfaction: “It is of the Hindu religion. The issue here is the separation of Church and State. You have people who invoke this principle when it comes to Christianity because they don't want to see prayers at school. And yet they want to learn yoga? "
A "laughable" ban
Several attempts to lift this ban, which some describe as "laughable", have already taken place. In February 2019, a senior education official in the state of Alabama presented "the draft of a draft" of a project to amend the ban on yoga. Before a lawyer threatened to initiate federal lawsuits if the ban on yoga at school was lifted.
A few months later in August, it was an organization, the Universal Society of Hinduism, which urged the authorities to modify the ban, "seriously and as a matter of urgency".
Still others have chosen to ignore yoga ban altogether . The football coach of an American high school took the initiative in September to integrate yoga after training, once a week. And the benefits are already being felt on its players, who are more mobile and have better recovery.
Despite the yoga ban in public schools in Alabama, this sport is still widely practiced in this state as recalls the Alabama news. Many free courses exist in the region and the practice is widespread in American football teams. And according to a recent study from the Yoga Journal , more than 20 million Americans do yoga.
Did you see ?
United States: Nearly 50,000 euros in reward for finding dolphin killers
Did you see ?
Coronavirus: American returnee from China faces huge medical costs
- Yoga
- school
- United States
- Did you see ?