Tai Chi and Discrimination
Posted: Wed Apr 29, 2015 4:51 pm
Link to Article : http://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/ ... -by-church
Discrimination of Tai Chi practitioners doesn't come up often but it does occur every now and then. As with many kinds of subtle discrimination, it could be happening more often than is publicly known. What is astonishing about this case in New Zealand is the brazenness of the discrimination. The Church leader, possibly without realizing it, directly expressed the discriminatory element in the Church's decision:
"Willis said while the council understood the [Tai Chi] programme did not include any religious content, it believed tai chi conflicted with the church's teachings and threatened the church's spiritual wellbeing."
As the quotation shows, the council, at one level, understands there is no religious content in the Tai Chi class, however, despite the lack of objectionable content, the decision to eject the class was still carried through. The issue now is, under what condition were they ejected?
Discrimination of Tai Chi practitioners doesn't come up often but it does occur every now and then. As with many kinds of subtle discrimination, it could be happening more often than is publicly known. What is astonishing about this case in New Zealand is the brazenness of the discrimination. The Church leader, possibly without realizing it, directly expressed the discriminatory element in the Church's decision:
"Willis said while the council understood the [Tai Chi] programme did not include any religious content, it believed tai chi conflicted with the church's teachings and threatened the church's spiritual wellbeing."
As the quotation shows, the council, at one level, understands there is no religious content in the Tai Chi class, however, despite the lack of objectionable content, the decision to eject the class was still carried through. The issue now is, under what condition were they ejected?