TWIST AND SHOUT

This morning we picked up an incident in UK, where two local churches in Taunton refused permission for yoga classes in their church premises. The priests argued that yoga was part of the Hindu ethos and impinges on Christian spirituality.

Good tabloid story considering the concept of yoga has grown beyond religion and is tremedously popular in the West. Church classrooms and auditoriums hold yoga classes and there's even a move to localise yoga in parts of the US in tune with religious beliefs.

But we fell prey to the charms of sensationalising and the news channel habit of presenting a micro picture as the macro picture. Yes, it is a headline but it's not the first headline overriding the outrageous decision by a village panchayat in Haryana to separate a child from his parents because the elders opposed their marriage.

And then we screamed, "Church Bans Yoga." Utterly ridiculous and a dangerous line, since we were talking about two priests from Taunton and not the whole Anglican Church or Baptist Church. It was an individual view and not the 'Church view'. Moreover, the Church is not one monolithic entity, with zillions of deniminations following different practices.

Soon follows reactions over the phone from leading figures in the Roman Catholic Church in India. What can they say sitting in India, on an action taken by priests who interpret Christianity differently from them in the first place.

It should have been dealt as a `local' and not a 'global' story with reactions from England, be it yoga enthusiasts or the Hindu community. Not Baba Ramdev pontificating on whether yoga is scientific or not.

We might have toned down the pitch later, but news channels are increasingly leaping into sweeping conclusions at the first hint of breaking news.

Also opposing a decision is one thing but painting it black is something else. That too, when it is a matter of faith. Priests in Guruvayur temple in Kerala are well within their rights to disallow non-Hindus from entering the temple. The punyaham or purification ceremony in Guruvayur temple after Vayalar Ravi's son visited on the other hand was a big story, because Ravi and his son both are practising Hindus. The punyaham was conducted just because Ravi's wife hailed from a Christian family. Here too, an issue of dogma within the Hindu fold was magnified into that of non-believers not being allowed to enter.

Similarly, a priest in a Taunton church is free to ban yoga within the church premises. There could be many believers in that parish who oppose yoga because they are uncomfortable with what they perceive as religious implications.

Tabloid headlines whet our appetites for curious tidbits, but it's dangerous when the Church itself is shown, albeit briefly, as taking up cudgels against yoga.