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America Has More Than 3 Faiths
The New York City Council last week voted to add two Muslim holidays to the city's public school calendar, citing the annual observance of Christian and Jewish holidays. Mayor Bloomberg objects, saying the city isn't obligated to accommodate all faiths: "If you close the schools for every single holiday, there won't be any school." Who's right? In a country with so many faiths, should public schools observe any religious holidays?
Religious faith is an important part of the lives of many American students and their families. For most of the last two centuries, this fact was given official recognition in the form of school and government holidays. However, the American religious landscape has greatly changed since the country was founded, and now its residents are of multiple faiths or of no faith.
In adding Muslim holidays to the city's school calendar, the NYC Council is recognizing Islam as having equal official status with Christianity and Judaism. While this will please many and can be seen as a way of acknowledging the increasingly diverse city populace, it functions to put the three Abrahamic religious traditions (i.e. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) as superior in the eyes of the government and fails to address the broader issue of equal status for all religions. It also sends the message to Hindus, Buddhists, and members of other faiths that their beliefs are less important.
What criteria did the Council use to determine that Islam should now be given recognition, while the other faiths will not? For millions of Hindus, for example, Tuesday is a holier day than Sunday, and this is in addition to the faith's countless annual holy days. Why, then, are these not recognized? Also, how about the holy days that are important to the African, Asian, and Caribbean residents of New York that are not currently given official observance?
In this sense, Mayor Bloomberg's statement is relevant. More importantly, any move by a government body to broaden recognition of religious diversity runs the risk of dividing those whose religions are acknowledged from those whose religions are not. Something must be done, but the Council's move is not the right approach. In his Varieties of Religious Experience, William James notes: "A great many people think they are thinking when they are really rearranging their prejudices."
By
Ramdas Lamb
|
July 8, 2009; 2:40 PM ET
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Posted by: Paganplace | July 13, 2009 1:13 PM
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Have you ever considered getting a real photographer do a portrait of you?
Posted by: YourAffectionateUncle | July 10, 2009 10:19 PM
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Agreed. The problem is that currently students get a full week off for Easter and Christmas, a week off in February for the recently inaugurated "Presidents Week," two or three Jewish holidays, now two Muslim holidays. Bloomberg, who fought long and hard to extend the school day, is the mayor of the most diverse city in the nation and rightly fears where this could lead. I would imagine that he would prefer to eliminate all religious holidays, including Christmas and Easter, and I would support him in that initiative.
Otherwise, as a democracy, if we are to close schools during the holidays of three religions we must close them for all.
Given these circumstances and given that we are a secular society, we must end this policy of closing schools and colleges for religious holidays. If students need to take time off for religious observance, we should permit them to do so within reason and without penalty, holding them responsible for making up their missing work. This should be the case for all followers of all faiths, including Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.
Posted by: Farnaz1Mansouri1 | July 9, 2009 6:32 AM
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Professor Lamb has said this quite rightly. Non-Abrahamic traditions get sidelined quite often in civic discussions across America. Non-Abrahamic traditions such as Buddhism, Hinduism, and Native American traditions are quite prominent in America, and need to be recognized and understood better. The Hindu American Foundation (www.HAFsite.org) provides good resource material about Hinduism. Kudos to Professor Lamb for saying what needed to be said!
Posted by: mihirmeghani | July 9, 2009 12:28 AM
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Well, I think the point of *closing* schools for holidays should really be on the basis of if everyone is excused for their religious holidays, when is it just easier to not have school at all, rather than have whoever's in the minority attend a near-empty classroom.
The message is unfortunately sent, of course, that certain days are recognized by the government as 'too holy' for school to be open, or even for students to be excused, and some aren't even a valid 'excuse' for a student to not be present.
I'm all for multicultural education, (Not having kids have to pray or even show others they aren't praying) but in this current climate when certain proselytizing religions are trying to masquerade evangelism for their religion, and theirs only *as* 'education,' I think it's best for the state to stay as neutral as possible.
Frankly, we have the institution of 'Summer vacation' not cause of religious needs, but because the kids would have to be working and too many just wouldn't be at school anyway.
There were procedures when I was in public school where, say, the Jewish kids and their families didn't need a special excuse to take certain days off, every single year and in every single case. Pagan families and college students can have difficulty getting the same kinds of considerations, though.
I think it should really be about what warrants a school closure for practical reasons, and otherwise be about people being allowed a certain number of religious days off.