Zang-thal Odsal

Lawsuit by Christians against Yoga Practitioner

My correspondence with my pen pal (Pal) is going well.  She's awesome, but she is struggling as best she knows how.

Here is her situation:  

After having a hearing regarding custody of her little girl who is in a foster home, she was sent back into a previous tier--where lifers are "housed."  She is sharing again the cell with previous cell mates who are fundamentalist Christians.  They have torn up her Buddha photo and other spiritual materials in the name of demonology.  Now they have filed a lawsuit against the prison because they are being exposed to her devil worship!

Consequently, the yoga and tai chi classes she was teaching were suspended and the guard removed whatever else was of a spiritual nature removed from her possession.  Pal is going to try to get a copy of the lawsuit.

That is all I know.  

One more thing.  Pal went to the chaplain to see if she could reserve one hour in the chapel to do mantra recitation.  She was told she needed to find a volunteer, but I'm not sure what that means. I've asked her in my current letter for clarification.

Any advice--legal and spiritual that I can pass on?  

Tags: Christian, persecution

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Bevan SuitsPermalink Reply by Bevan Suits on September 21, 2010 at 10:04am
This type of controversy is absolutely fascinating to me because I was once an LSD-inspired Christian who quickly melted into yoga practice, then Zen, which has become my daily practice for about 35 years. So I can actually see both sides! Yet this type of ideological duality is a key flash point in our civilization. Wherever this conflict arises, it makes my blood boil yet I also see the opportunity to maybe make it safe for dharma practice and maybe even get friendly with the Christians. That's my projection of course.

On a legal level, isn't this something that the ACLU would work on?
Zang-thal OdsalPermalink Reply by Zang-thal Odsal on September 21, 2010 at 12:49pm
ACLU in Idaho....it would be an experiment.

I believe my pal is now doing dream yoga.

I tried to find a local sangha to go to the penitentiary, but the telephone numbers no longer work.

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