Yoga bad for the soul, says Baptist Leader

A feud over yoga and religion has left many Christians bent out of shape.

Southern Baptist Seminary President Albert Mohler unleashed a storm of controversy when he penned a critical essay titled Should Christians Practice Yoga?

u00a0In the piece, Mohler cautions Christians against the practice of yoga, saying that despite its evolution into a popular pastime, its spiritual basis violates the tenets of Christianity.

"Yoga begins and ends with an understanding of the body that is, to say the very least, at odds with the Christian understanding," he wrote.
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"Christians are not called to empty the mind or to see the human body as a means of connecting to and coming to know the divine."

The evangelical leader found himself in the hot seat post his essay went public. "My email servers are exhausted," Mohler wrote on his website.

"Messages have been coming in at a rate of about a 100 an hour. The first lesson count the cost when you talk about yoga," he said.

Many yoga enthusiasts don't see their love for the practice as being in conflict with their belief in Christianity.
Stephanie Dillon, said that she credits yoga for reviving her connection with her faith.

"What I found is that it opened my spirit; it renewed my spirituality," she said.

Though Dillon feels she has integrated yoga and Christianity in her life, Mohler says the two are fundamentally incompatible.