There is a new conflict over religious rights in public education in New Jersey where Muslim families demanded an official holiday for Eid al-Adha. The meeting erupted when the school board refused to create such a holiday just six days before Eid al-Adha, which would have required thousands to families to scramble to find accommodations for their children. It also raises the slippery slope of adopting some religious holidays and not others. For example, the Jewish community noted that their families do not have official holidays for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. The confrontations raises the question of why public schools should create religious holidays as opposed to giving students excused absences for such holidays, which New Jersey does.
One Muslim mother is heard declaring that “We’re going to be the majority soon!” That comment embodies the very point cited by both supporters and critics. On one hand, the community is calling for the simple recognition of a dominant religious holiday in this community. They insist that community control over schools means that large segments of the population should be accommodated on such question. Moreover, this was not such a controversy, they suggest, when the holidays were Christian.
On the other hand, critics insist that it is not about the majority getting what it wants in terms of elevating their own religious holidays over others. Indeed, the first amendment is designed first and foremost to protect minorities from majoritarian discrimination. There are also the entanglement issues raised by certain religious holidays being favored over others. Unless one adopts the “majority is always right” to impose a favored religion, the school would have to recognize holidays for Christians, Jews, Buddhists and other faiths.
For many of us, it makes better constitutional and practical sense to allow excused absences. Of course, this leaves the issue of “Christmas” holidays. However, those holidays are increasingly disassociated with Christianity and rarely are called “Christmas” holiday. Instead, the holiday comes at the end of the year and is carried through the New Year. Easter holidays are virtually gone and even “Halloween parties” have been reconfigured as “Harvest celebrations” to avoid even attenuated reference to anything religious.
What is interesting is that various leaders including Jewish leaders expressed an interest in adding the holiday for next year. Rabbi Debra Hachen of Jersey City’s Temple Beth-El, the city’s largest Jewish congregation, said “I personally plan to offer my assistance to the Muslim community to bring this up during the school year so that it can be discussed and considered fully in time to be incorporated into next year’s school calendar. Our community is fully in support of religious freedom of expression and understands the desire of our Muslim friends and neighbors to have the schools closed for Eid El-Adha.” It is a position that raises the issue of accommodation of other faiths and whether this is simply a question of the majority religion in a given district.
The controversy in New Jersey is illustrative of a common view that religious freedom means the right to impose religious values supported by the majority. The Kim Davis controversy reflects that same claim of entitlement in an official insisting that she has a right to impose her religious litmus test in carrying out ministerial functions as a clerk. The classic civil libertarian position is that true religious freedom is protected by neutrality by the government. The fear is that this all becomes little more than a muscle play. The insular minorities of yesterday become the dominant majorities of today.
Yet, in fairness to those calling for this holiday, The city has already established this holiday and Diwali as city holidays. Dawali is the Indian festival of lights. One can argue that schools are part of communities and can accommodate and recognize the holidays that are most important to those communities. After all, if the vast majority of students are taking leave for the holidays, it is argued that it makes more sense to simply declare a holiday for everyone.
It is a fascinating line to draw, though from a constitutional standpoint there is always unease in the government enforcing a holiday tied to a particular religion. This has long been the case with Christian holidays but, as discussed above, those official holidays were long contested on separation grounds.
What do you think?
Teachers should receive good pay.
Issac,
New Jersey municipalities negotiate the union contracts. Good pay with paid days off. Kindergarten teacher $75K, superintendant $200K, police chief $250K, police $150K.
Retire with cashed in unused vacation and sick days, $450K plus pension at or better than $100K. Bill to property tax payers.
“I think we need to have competition in schools and let the schools decide what holidays are accommodated. If the school is in a predominately Muslim area, then their two religious holidays can be observed.”
******************
A competition in schools to see which religious preference trumps the others? Seriously? If you want a religious school for your children, send them to one.
DavidM wrote: ““I think we need to have competition in schools and let the schools decide what holidays are accommodated. If the school is in a predominately Muslim area, then their two religious holidays can be observed.”
Annie wrote: “A competition in schools to see which religious preference trumps the others? Seriously? If you want a religious school for your children, send them to one.”
The purpose of competition is lost on you. It is not about which religious preference trumps the other. It has to do with culture. If the community is observing a particular holiday, the school should be free to accommodate that norm. How silly it is to have school on a day when 95% of the students are absent. If you think about it, not many people have convictions about President’s Day. It would be more logical to give a day off for Eid al-Adha and scratch President’s Day.
As for my children, I have always sent them to secular schools. What I don’t like about secular schools is that they tiptoe around the subject of religion as if religion were taboo. People in the community are inherently religious and so education becomes deficient because of a misreading of our liberty Amendments.
I don’t belong to religion for a reason, so why you would think I would want my children to attend a religious school is a bit bewildering. I believe in tolerating religion and being sensitive to religious convictions. That is a lot different than desiring to be joined to religious institutions.
For the woman who thinks that they will be the majority and is obviously math and geography challenged
Three strangers strike up a conversation in the airport passenger lounge in Bozeman, Montana, awaiting their flights.
One is an American Indian passing through from Lame Deer. Another is a Cowboy on his way to Billings for a livestock show and the third passenger is a fundamentalist Arab student, newly arrived at Montana State University from the Middle East.
Their discussion drifts to their diverse cultures. Soon, the two Westerners learn that the Arab is a devout, radical Muslim and the conversation falls into an uneasy lull.
The cowboy leans back in his chair, crosses his boots on a magazine table and tips his big sweat-stained hat forward over his face. The wind outside is blowing tumbleweeds around, and the old windsock is flapping; but still no plane comes.
Finally, the American Indian clears his throat and softly he speaks, “At one time here, my people were many, but sadly, now we are few.”
The Muslim student raises an eyebrow and leans forward, “Once my people were few,” he sneers, “and now we are many. Why do you suppose that is?”
The Montana cowboy shifts his toothpick to one side of his mouth and from the darkness beneath his Stetson says in a drawl,
“That’s ’cause we ain’t played Cowboys and Muslims yet, but I do believe it’s a-comin’.”
Don’t Jewish people also use a different calendar?
The greatest difficulty with this holiday is that the Muslims use a different calendar. Sometimes this holiday will occur in July and August when there is no school, but other times it will be in September.
I think we need to have competition in schools and let the schools decide what holidays are accommodated. If the school is in a predominately Muslim area, then their two religious holidays can be observed.
People with children should be allotted vouchers, then they choose which schools are doing the best job. The number of vouchers schools collect determine how much government subsidy they get. This would allow schools that are secular and those that allow religious teaching. Let the parents choose.
Good idea, Issac, but why is it that winter break and spring break always end up including the days on which Christmas and Easter fall, rather than the days on which other religions’ holidays fall?
There should be no more religious holidays. Easter is gone. Christmas is almost gone. Halloween is actually growing. However, the greatest religious freedom is the freedom from religion.
If Muslims, Jews, or Christians want the world to stop when they celebrate their particular fairy tale then let them do it during prescribed breaks: Winter Break, Spring Break, Summer Break, etc. If they need an additional day or two during the year let them arrange an excused absence with them being responsible for making up the work. Limit excused absences to one per semester. If they can’t live with that, then perhaps they should find a country that accommodates their fantasies.
If you can’t keep your religion to yourselves then perhaps you don’t belong in a country that has ‘freedom from religion’ as one of its rights.
No one seems to have a problem with schools always being closed for Good Friday, to observe Easter, and for “Christmas break.” Why is that?
I think the school board did the right thing as Prof Turley pointed out as a suggestion since they allowed an excused absence for those Muslim kids who choose to be absent. The board is also right in observing that making it a holiday with SIX days notice is absurd and outlandish. There might have been a case for it had it been raised at the beginning of the school year. So those parents are a day late and a dollar short.
I took offense at the Muslim woman saying she will be the majority soon, and the implied THREAT! It is time to deport her and her family since they do NOT intend to become Americans with respect for others. If they hate it here so much, they should leave.
http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2015/9/who-hates-muslims-most.html
An example of an attorney expressing non-bigoted views. It is out there…
On Planet Remulak we have creatures who have been damaged by a solar spike. It burned the shells off of my creatures. Our creatures run the place– kind of like humans here. Those who have been damaged have a holiday on the anniversary of the solar spike. We call it Spike Jones Day (we speak something close to English, which is how you humans got that language).
I spoke with a public school teacher down here in Louisiana. I asked him why he is a teacher. He stated that he had three good reasons: June, July and August. Then Christmas holidays are to him a capper. I asked him if he would welcom Ramadan and he said: “Hell Yes!” He said he is a Baptist. It seems strange to me that when Americans approve of something they say “Hell Yes!” as opposed to “Heavens Yes”. Indeed, they will say “Heavens No!” if they disapprove of something. But, I have also heard: “Hell No!”.
Now I hear from the dog side of the aisle about making January 8th a holiday in New Jersey. The teachers will be happy. I am going to ask local teacher (name is Joe Bob) what he thinks.
This is exactly the problem that is created by religious privilege. Accommodation becomes a “right” that individuals then fight over and then poof….you have sectarian clashes and threats. This is exactly the world the founding fathers wished to avoid.
By the way was the women who said “we will be the majority” threatening the rest of us? I think so and that is another sign that religious privilege while when it begins seems benign hardens into a sword.
We must end all religious privilege in the country including but not limited to tax exemptions for religious organizations.
One Muslim mother is heard declaring that “We’re going to be the majority soon!”
She’s not very good at math is she? You have to enjoy the delusions of those who internalize politics to such an extent it effectively drives them insane. Like people who liken their political opponents to the Taliban.
Al, Indeed. We will have kids being taught all sorts of crazy things, like chewing a Pop Tart into the shape of a gun means you are a danger and must be expelled from school[govt. school zero tolerance]. But, I believe the good schools will flourish and the Adam and Eve on dinosaur schools will be marginal, at best. Give people choices. The vast majority will make good choices.
Al asked, who pays for it? In New Jersey, its from property taxes.
School superintendents, principles, union teachers, cops and police chiefs salaries.
http://youtu.be/sUObLt070FQ
Interesting discussion about this very subject. So in O’ Reilly’s view it’s the majority who gets to decide which religious holiday is recognized? With the growing Muslim numbers that should be taken into consideration as Professor Turley also points out.
Since you have a fat Governor in Jersey then let there be a Fat Person Day.
The schools in Jersey are closed for Xmas and so make the Muslims’ holiday a closed school day as well. Make Santa wear a burka on the Santa character on the walls at school. Make the Principals wear a burka or tent on their heads to prove that they are “pals” like they say they are.
End religious accomodation as it exists and make it apply to all religions. Particularly dogs. Four Legs Good, Two Legs Baaaaad!
The solution for dealing with educational system problems is to take steps to improve the existing system, not to have our kids educated by the lowest bidder. I prefer to have educators accountable to the public, not to the shareholders of corporations, whose primary goal will ALWAYS be to make a profit and not to educate our kids. If you think that making a profit is more important than educating our kids, you have your priorities completely out of whack, IMO. Giving our kids the best education possible, including teaching them HOW to think, should be one of our highest priorities as a society.
Returning to the topic of this post, there is no “good” solution, only a “least worst” solution. Some group or groups will always be unhappy. I’m not sure I’m smart enough to figure out the least worst solution, but I’ll go with the “classic civil libertarian ” position for now.