“There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.”
-- Elie Wiesel
Let me just say that I am fully aware that my post today is essentially a continuation of my post from yesterday but when I watched the news last night I simply could not stop myself from addressing this issue because I think it absolutely proves my point that there is an active agenda to dismantle religious freedoms in this country…
Stony Brook University has decided to no longer give students off for Good Friday. To be fair, they have now changed their vacation policy for all Christian and Jewish holidays in order to accommodate Buddhists and Muslims who said that their holidays were not represented. So now, because Buddhists and Muslims complained, the Christians and Muslims will now be in school on their holidays.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I can understand why Muslims would like to miss school to celebrate their religion. They do so for likely the same reasons why Christians and Jews would want to miss school…in order to be with their families and honor their God. Seems reasonable enough.
But why not accommodate the Buddhist/Muslim students (who represent a tiny fraction of the student body as compared to Christian and Jewish students) and provide an excused absence for those students on their religious holiday?
Would that be THAT disruptive? Would that case THAT many problems? Would it be MORE disruptive and cause MORE problems than preventing the Christian and Jewish students from missing school (think about travel issues, inability to attend services because they must be in class…etc.)
Before you formulate your opinion on this topic please consider the following list of approved legal holidays at Stony Brook…
Labor Day | Monday | September 5, 2011 |
Columbus Day* | Monday | October 10, 2011 |
Election Day* | Tuesday | November 8, 2011 |
Veterans Day* | Friday | November 11, 2011 |
Thanksgiving Day | Thursday | November 24, 2011 |
Christmas Day (observed)** | Monday | December 26, 2011 |
New Year's Day (observed)** | Monday | January 2, 2012 |
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day | Monday | January 16, 2012 |
Lincoln's Birthday* | Monday | February 13, 2012 |
Washington's Birthday (observed)* | Monday | February 20, 2012 |
Memorial Day | Monday | May 28, 2012 |
Independence Day | Wednesday | July 4, 2012 |
Labor Day | Monday | September 3, 2012 |
I don’t have a problem with honoring Columbus (although I really implore you to acknowledge the number of times you have stopped and reflected about Columbus while home on Holiday that day)..or Lincoln…or even Washington…
All great guys I’m sure…but if we are going to honor them, I’m pretty sure there is one other pretty great guy we should be honoring on the Friday before Easter....
-Claudia
You are so awesome, I can hardly stand it!! I just love how you are able to put things in perspective!!
ReplyDeleteI am with you on absolutely every count!
Thank you, my friend....for being you!!
It's funny, when I was in school (I grew up in Northern California), we didn't get Good Friday off. In the private schools, it was given, but not in the public schools. If your family chose to observe it, then all you had to do was turn in a note from the parents and voila! Excused absence. It wasn't until we moved to Texas 11 years ago that I realized that most folks actually observed Good Friday. I think we should swap Columbus Day for Good Friday...after all, technically, he didn't even land on US soil!! Here in Hawaii, we have a gazillion and one holidays. They still celebrate the birthdays of the important Hawaiian royalty. For example, Prince Kuhio Day is Monday. He's been dead for a looong time, but they still celebrate it. :)
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