Small-town high school renames yoga after 'concerned citizens' object

After a group of "concerned citizens" objected that offering yoga might amount to a promotion of Hinduism, a small town New York high school has renamed the exercise "Raider relaxation" after the school's mascot. But the best paragraph from the story was this one:

The debate around Massena's yoga program is not unprecedented. In 2002 in Aspen, Colo., a group of Baptists objected to a proposed yoga program in the public school district, citing separation of church and state as well. In the end, all of the Sanskrit terms were dropped -- "meditation" became "time in" and "yogic panting" became "bunny breathing." The only term that remained was yoga.

technorati: yoga

Students protest Schlafly's presence at graduation

Washington University in St. Louis gave an honorary degree yesterday to Phyllis Schlafly, one of the dinosaurs of the Christian Right. The 83-year-old founder of the Concerned Women of America pressure group lives in nearby Alton, Ill. As she was awarded her honor, dozens of students and some faculty members turned their backs in protest.

Schlafly is famous for her anti-feminist views, which she expresses in deadening language that is hardly quotable. She is also well known for being strangely obsessed with the teaching of reading using phonics, blaming other systems for everything from illiteracy to liberalism.

technorati: Phyllis Schafly, Washington University

End of the Haggard era: 'Overseers' give report

The committee of "overseers" of Ted Haggard's church -- a group of evangelical pastor-CEOs hired to hash out the hypocrite's exit from their ranks and "restore" him to blessed (though secular) heterosexuality -- today gave a report to Haggard's former congregation. Among the interesting revelations:

• They found "numerous individuals who reported to us firsthand
  knowledge of everything from sordid conversation to overt suggestions to improper activities to improper relationships."
• The three-year relationship with gay prostitute Mike Jones was only the "culmination" of this "pattern of behavior."
• They consider Jones' outing of Haggard not a betrayal but "a matter of grace" that allowed Haggard's perfidy to be exposed. It was "not only warranted, but also merciful to him and to the church.
• Haggard's "enormous personality" is the main reason he had to leave not only his own church but, apparently, the whole state.
• The church "will continue to support Haggard and his family through 2007." (It should be noted that the sale of the very large Haggard mansion, which was his property, should net over a million dollars, and it will be much cheaper to live where he said he would move to, Iowa or Missouri, so Haggard was hardly in need of this golden parachute.) They also paid for the three weeks of "counseling" that Haggard bragged had been equal to three years of therapy.
• Their "investigation is not complete;" indeed, they say they are still tracking down "rumors."

What fun for them. There's something of the Puritanical zeal of Kenneth Starr in these overseers. I think their whole thing has developed into some kind of parable for the evangelicals. What happened to Haggard -- disgrace and magnanimous forgiveness -- is, no doubt, what they hoped to do to Bill Clinton.

Here's the main story from the local paper on the scene at Haggard's former church. Among the added details is that Haggard's former salary was $130,000 and that this amount is roughly equal to the cash La Familie Haggard will receive as "support," called by some commentators hush money or a payoff.

technorati: Ted Haggard, New Life Church, fundamentalists