The Baptist State Convention of North Carolina will be sponsoring a conference this fall featuring yoga proponent and emerging church leader Doug Pagitt. The Wired2Grow event will take place on October 16th in Burlington, North Carolina....Pagitt is the pastor of Solomon's Porch in Minnesota where yoga classes are often held. In the December 3rd 2005 issue of the Twin Cities Pioneer Press, it stated: "Christian yoga has been gaining a devout following, and Twin Cities pastor Doug Pagitt has endorsed the practice in his new book, Body Prayer: The Posture of Intimacy with God." A PBS news story (see video) on the emerging church featured Doug Pagitt. The video also showed yoga classes taking place at the 2005 Emergent Convention in which Pagitt was a speaker. In one segment of the video (25 second mark), there was an Egyptian god symbol above a sanctuary stage (25 second mark) of a church. Currently, on the Solomon Church website is advertised the Women's Yoga and Prayer class...

Pagitt, like most emerging church leaders, resonates with mysticism (such as yoga and contemplative prayer) and is sympathetic towards Catholicism. In Roger Oakland's book, Faith Undone, he quotes Pagitt. Pagitt states: "During a recent Life Development Forum we offered a session on Christian practices. In one of the four weeks we introduced the act of making the sign of the cross on ourselves. This gesture has become a very powerful experience for me. It is rich with meaning and history and is such a simple way to proclaim and pray my faith with my body. I hold the fingers on my right hand in the shape of a cross, my index finger lying over the top of my outstretched thumb. I use the Eastern Orthodox pattern of touching first head, then heart, then right lung followed by left. Others in the group follow the Roman Catholic practice with left before right." (Faith Undone, p. 51) ....

While many Christians think that yoga is ok if it is just practiced as a physical exercise omitting the spiritual aspects, even Hindu yoga masters say that you cannot separate the two. In one article titled "There is No Christian Yoga" by Hindu Yogi Baba Prem, Vedavisharada, CYI, C.ay, C.va, he states: It was quite astonishing to see on the flyer 'Christian Yoga! This Thursday night....' I could feel the wheels spinning in my brain. 'Christian Yoga,' I thought. Now while Christians can practice yoga, I am not aware of any Christian teachings about yoga. Yoga is not a Judeo/Christian word! It is ... certainly not a part of protestant teachings. It is not found within the King James Version of the bible. It is a Hindu word, or more correctly a Sanskrit word from the Vedic civilization.

So how did we get 'Christian Yoga'? In an email Lighthouse Trails received from a professor at the Classical Yoga Hindu Academy, he stated: Is Yoga a religion that denies Jesus Christ? Yes. Just as Christianity denies the Hindu MahaDevas such as Siva, Vishnu, Durga and Krishna, to name a few, Hinduism and its many Yogas have nothing to do with God and Jesus (though we do respect that others believe in this way). As Hindus who live the Yogic lifestyle, we appreciate when others understand that all of Yoga is all about the Hindu religion. Modern so-called 'yoga' is dishonest to Hindus and to all non-Hindus such as the Christians.In a DVD titled Yoga Uncoiled by Caryl Productions, she explains that Yoga is not mere exercise.

The postures themselves are specifically designed to worship the gods of Hinduism. For anyone who thinks that Yoga exercises (postures) are valid and safe, please get a copy of Dave Hunt's book, Yoga and the Body of Christ and Caryl Matrisciana's DVD. You will not only have a deeper understanding of the true nature of Yoga, but you will also see how dangerous it is to the spiritual welfare of the believer.
Unfortunately, Pagitt's role in the North Carolina Baptist event is not the only indication that the North Carolina organization is heading into the contemplative/emergent camp.

In their Spiritual Formation department, they include Marjorie Thompson's book Soul Feast. In a recent book review, Thompson is quoted from her book as saying: Some Christians find that "mindfulness meditation," a traditional Buddhist practice, helps them live their Christian discipleship more faithfully.... The practice of contemplative prayer might give a Christian ground for constructive dialogue with a meditating Buddhist. (from Prologue of Soul Feast)...BSCNC is also advertising the North Carolina Five-Day Academy for Spiritual Formation. A look at the retreat's brochure reveals influence by Catholic priest and mystic Thomas Merton, who said he wanted to be the best Buddhist he could be and who compared dropping LSD to practicing contemplative prayer... (This article is from LighthouseTrailsResearch.com)