It is a technique, not a religion — and a court disagreed.
The organisation teaches TM in schools and prisons on the ground that it requires no belief. In 1979 the Third Circuit held that the course, with its Sanskrit puja, was religious for Establishment Clause purposes.
The claim and the counter-claim both belong here. The organisation teaches TM as a technique with no doctrinal content, and has taught it to schoolchildren, prisoners, veterans and employees on that basis; Maharishi was explicit that no one had to change a belief. Against that, the initiation ceremony is a Sanskrit puja performed before a portrait of Guru Dev, with offerings, and the mantras are Vedic. In Malnak v. Yogi the district court held in 1977, and the Third Circuit affirmed in 1979, that the Science of Creative Intelligence course was religious for Establishment Clause purposes. The organisation subsequently changed how it presents courses in publicly funded settings and continues to say TM is not a religion.
The Science of Creative Intelligence course and the puja were religious in nature for Establishment Clause purposes.
Malnak v. Yogi, 592 F.2d 197 (3d Cir. 1979) (rendered)The Third Circuit affirmed the district court; the teaching organisation continues to hold that TM is not a religion.
The same ground, other faiths
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