The New Religious Wars
Recently, a Boston suburb decided to close its schools on Good Friday, Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah. The bordering district in Harvard voted to end all religious holidays. What about Christmas Day? It’s the start of the official politically correct “Winter Holiday.” Courts have ruled that Christmas Day is a secular holiday, which is fitting because that’s what it has become.
An alternative proposal at the Harvard school board was rejected: schools would stay open on all holidays unless absenteeism was expected to be high enough to make a school day “impractical or uneconomic.” Leave it to the bean counters--everything else is. Even if open, nothing consequential, like tests or proms, could be scheduled.
Thousands of school boards across the U.S. have created a patchwork quilt of regulations. Districts with large Jewish populations lock the doors on Yom Kipper and Rosh Hashanah. Half the children in Dearborn, Michigan are Muslim, so almost a decade ago the city schools closed for major Islamic holidays. Back to Massachusetts, the historical cauldron of revolution. In Cambridge, the board voted in October to shutter the schools for one day during Ramadan, prompting Bill O’Reilly to ask: “Are we going to give Hindus a holiday, are we going to do the Wiccan thing?”
Some think that’s a good idea. A recent article in USA Today explored the issue. The federal government already does “the Wiccan thing.” After a lawsuit, “pagans” won the right to place their symbol on military tombstones. Atheists can, too. Yes, they have a symbol. And in case you’re wondering if Wiccans have holidays, there are plenty.
So how many religions would be recognized? Generally, scholars cite 8 “world” faiths. In politically correct alphabetical order: Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Daoism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and Yoruba. But what about Baha’i, Native American beliefs, Jainism, et al?
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