âŚChildren of all faiths rejoice.
Oh no, an east coast city is doing something decent and noble for its resident population! QUE THE WINGNUTS!
âThem muslims ainât takinâ my kid outta school!â one obese blowhard in rural Kansas was heard to say.
âThis new addition will also enable a teachable moment bunch of idiots to scream their conspiracy theories about Sharia law taking over our countryâ
Faux News is going to have a field day with thisâŚ
In other news, NYC schools STILL observing obscure âChancellorâs Dayâ on the first or second Thursday of June, which is the worst day off ever, because (1) why not just end school a day earlier and (2) you canât even make a three day weekend out of it.
Countdown to Bill OâReilly describing how he saw pickpockets having their hands chopped off by swarthy, turbanâd men in Times Square . . .
Cue epic apoplectic conservatar^^ive shitstorm.
Studies consistently show that, on average, people who live in big cities are more progressive because they live amongst diversity. You canât cocoon yourself from reality; you have to learn how to get along with others.
So glad weâve gotten past âoh noes theyâre going to put a mosque at ground zeroââŚbut then again, that was outside agitators not locals, even then.
As a devout atheist I have mixed emotions. I think its good to support Muslim students, but personally I think religious holidays shouldnât be a day off. I once had a coworker ask me to sign a petition, because they wrongly felt that some cultural sensitivity videos went against the seperation if church and state. I said Iâd sign it as soon as they included the idea that Christmas shouldnât be one of our paid holidays.
I think we ought to have about 10 more general holidays in the US. And Iâm absolutely fine with a bunch of them being religious holidays.
On the other hand I think its a bit odd that certain historical events are school holidays. Maybe it would be better to make it a half-day with special civil rights history related lessons on MLK jr day, war related history on veterans day, etc?
I would note, however, that adding school holidays that are not general holidays is tough on low income families.
But, Christmas is totally a secular holiday except when it isnât, you filthy supporter of the War on Christmas!
My school district still has off for the Jewish holidays, but no Hindu holidays despite Jewish kids being out numbered by Indian kids by 5-1 at least. Itâs much easier to add than subtract, but it really doesnt make much sense to give off for the Jewish holidays anymore. And yes I know Indian <> Hindu.
I get three paid days off for Easter. Itâs a shock every year, and I feel a bit guilty about it because I feel like I donât appreciate enough to warrant the holiday⌠But then again, arenât all holidays essentially made-up excuses to take a day off?
My favorite is still Japanâs âRespect Your Elders Dayâ. Whoo!
As a one-time )long since passed now) school inmate, Iâm assuming the pupilsâ view of this, regardless of faith or political stripe/whatever, is, âA day off? Fucking sweet!â.
IMO the greatest effect of schools/biz/govt observing religious holidays is that they slowly become secular, which is great.
IDK if eat too much day or shop too much day or dress up day will ever have their names changed to reflect the reality of these events to children, but maybe.
& there should be at least one stat holiday per month even if there is nothing to celebrate. In Ontario I canât recall if we have 12 now, but I was only just fooled in February (again) by âFamily Dayâ a provincial stat holiday, because February/winter/sucksbyFebruary. I always get caught out by that one cause I work at home so everyday is Family day to me.
One of the days falls in summer.
Ermahgerd! Shariah law in the heart of Clintonland! How will the republic survive?
The only possibly fair way to go about this is to have the state, companies, and schools running every day - and then each person takes their own holidays off. Problem solved.
I have gone though this for years, and people either donât understand, or pretend not to. My previous job was at a company owned by Jews - yet, they only offered Christian holidays off. Maybe being pushed into celebrating a Christian (or some other) holiday would actually be offensive for some people?
As clergy, it is more difficult if you are willing or expected to actually conduct some large multi-day ritual for a holiday which your workplace arbitrarily decides not to recognize in the first place.
