Reacting sharply to the ban imposed on yoga by two churches in England in their halls, yoga exponent Baba Ramdev and a Catholic priest on Saturday said the decision stems from "ignorance".
"To relate yoga with religion is nothing but ignorance. There is nothing to suggest in the yoga texts that it is against Christianity," Baba Ramdev said.
Delhi Catholic Archdiocese spokesperson Emmanuel Dominic said the action was "stupidity because of lack of sufficient knowledge about what yoga is."
Describing yoga as a sham and un-Christian, priests of two churches in England have banned a children's exercise class from their church halls because it is teaching yoga.
Louise Woodcock, 41, who was looking for a new home for her Yum Yum Yoga class for toddlers was turned away by the Silver Street Baptist Church and St James's Anglican Church in Taunton, Somerset.
Dominic, a yoga practioner, said the decision was not official of either of the Church of England or of the Catholic Church or the Protestant Church.
"Two small parishes are small thing. These are the individual opinions of the two priests," he said.
