I am a senior student a Massena Central High school, and a member of Calvary Baptist Church. I would like to express my opinion on this yoga issue. I have done my research on the subject and do not mean to offend anyone.

Yoga is indeed part of the Hindu religion whether people want to accept it or not. The U.S. Constitution states that there is to be a separation of church and state; that goes for all churches, not just Christian.

Some may argue that yoga isn't a religion and therefore does not have a church, but that's not true. The women bringing yoga into the classroom received special training from a temple. I looked up this temple on the Internet and on its official Web site the first thing I saw was a statue of one of the Hindu gods.

Temples, like churches, have one basic purpose and that is for worship. It seems to me that by bringing yoga into a public classroom, it's a direct violation of the U.S. Constitution. If these teachers want it in the school so bad, they should hold a yoga class either before or after school hours, not during valuable class time. As students we come to school to learn, not to relax; most of us do our relaxing at home.

Members of the community may think that Christians are not tolerant, but we are. We just speak out when our rights as Americans are violated. We too have freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly and freedom to petition. When we are forced to take part in or witness something that compromises our beliefs in a place where religion should not be present, we will speak out and voice our opinions.

Let's not forget that this land that we live in was founded on the basis and principles of Christianity. Why is it that others can voice their opinions and we Christians must keep quiet on such matters?

I do agree that we Christians stand strong on what we believe and that doing yoga will not sway our faith, but I will not participate in yoga for the fact that it is a Hindu practice. I believe if you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything. In short, this all comes down to a matter of separation of church and state.

Cassandra Brooks

Massena