When it comes to the wild world of public relations for political candidates these days, saying yoga will lead to Satan might be good for a laugh, but it’s sure as hell not going to help get you elected.
Perhaps this is what Virginia’s Republican nominee for lieutenant governor, E.W. Jackson, considered after quotes from his 2008 book Ten Commandments to an Extraordinary Life: Making Your Dreams Come True went postal last week. You know, the one that caught everyone’s attention about yoga letting “satan invade the vacuum of your soul“? Yeah, well he didn’t really mean it. Or at least he doesn’t mean it now, for the most part. Woops.
As Jackson clarified on Wednesday at a press conference in Manassas, Va.,, he does not believe yoga and meditation will lead to Satanism.
Via the Richmond Times-Dispatch:
“I do not believe that yoga leads to Satanism. One of my ministers is a yoga instructor. What I said was that Christian meditation does not involve emptying oneself but filling oneself … with the spirit of God. That is classic biblical Christianity.”
Well, ok, as long as it’s Christian you won’t turn into a demon. Otherwise, that there is the devil’s down dog. Still, we appreciate Jackson’s clarification. This, of course, brings up an interesting opinion. If the schools in Encinitas had a Christian-based yoga program, would the conservative parents have brought the battle of yoga vs. religion to court?
Jackson spoke for 45 minutes to set the record straight about this and other outrageous statements like birth defects are caused by parents’ sin. He also confessed to smoking pot as a teenager and filing for bankruptcy in the 90s.
And then he struck a triangle pose, cried and kissed a baby. Look, people can change! Kidding.
Hey, if we didn’t know better, we’d think this guy was running for some kind of political office or something.
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Earlier…
- Virginia Lt. Governor Candidate Warns of Yoga Letting Satan ‘Invade the Empty Vacuum of Your Soul’
- Yoga: Religious or Spiritual? Priest Bans Yoga From Church as ‘Incompatible with Catholic Faith’
- The Two Sides to the Mindboggling Encinitas Yoga Trial, Or When Yoga and Religion Meet in Court
- When Yoga Empowers: The Three Perspectives of Understanding
