MADISON TOWNSHIP — A yoga instructor has sold a fruit farm adjacent to an elementary school this past February and has left the area. Perhaps not coincidentally, the sale took place the same time area clergy were coordinating an effort to block Eastern Religion from being taught in public schools.
Apparently the pastors have upset the apple cart.
(Photo courtesy of Frontlines Ohio)
Endorsed by over one hundred clergymen, a correspondence went out to local pastors for approval just two days prior to the sale of the property. After two school districts responded to the letter by discontinuing yoga instruction during school hours, the story made national news.
In a 2018 interview with the Mansfield News Journal, the former landowner Ranjit Batth said there was much she wanted to do with the seventeen-acre Richland County fruit farm at 705 Mansfield Lucas Road. Plans included “community gardens and projects with the nearby Madison South Elementary School.”
Originally a licensed child therapist from California, Batth received her certificate for yoga when she opened “Urvara” Farms, which means “fertile soil” in the Hindu Sanskrit. In the interview, Batth stated “I love yoga and want to be able to teach that, like ‘yoga on the farm.'”
But that all changed. Classroom activities were brought to light and pastors unified.
“There is power in agreement,” says Pastor Henry Bradley of New Community Temple COGIC. “Scripture tells us if two come into agreement about anything they ask, the Heavenly Father will grant what they ask. This is no coincidence. We (clergy) are thankful no yoga will be taking place at Madison South Elementary. Our GOD is like a Divine chiropractor, he snaps everything into place.”
“There is power in agreement. Scripture tells us if two come into agreement about anything they ask, the Heavenly Father will grant what they ask. This is no coincidence. We (clergy) are thankful no yoga will be taking place at Madison South Elementary. Our GOD is like a Divine chiropractor, he snaps everything into place.”
Pastor Henry Bradley
New Community Temple COGIC
The clergy said Urvara Farms was on their radar. In their investigation, the clergy also discovered at least six other area school districts that were actively promoting Eastern Religion during school hours.
According to Madison Local School Superintendent Rob Peterson, “Our school district does not support the promotion or incorporation of Eastern Religion during school hours. With that being said, I am not aware of any of these activities occurring during school in the district.”
Faced with scrutiny, yoga activists are now having a difficult time convincing skeptics that school yoga is strictly secular in nature. School districts are concluding yoga during school hours is the promotion of religion, which is a violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. Last January, a Hindu statesman brazenly approached the Ohio State Department of Education about implementing yoga as an alternative to school detention.
The statesman, Mr. Rajan Zed, is the President of Universal Society of Hinduism (USH). In fact, the religious group’s mission is to “provide worldwide Hindu identity” with the goal of “promoting study and research of Hindu philosophy.”
“It is not a stretch to say this activist wants to go around the Constitution and mandate state-sponsored Hinduism.” says Pastor Bradley. “While the one yoga instructor sold their land, this activist did not sell his case. This is not going to happen on our watch.”
Nevertheless, with the rug being pulled out from under the feet of Eastern Religion activists, yoga during school could very well be facing…..expulsion.
View the video below of several North Central Ohio clergy discussing Eastern Religion in an exclusive Frontlines Ohio interview.
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