Suburban DC school district takes Christmas off calendar after Muslims complain

[bonnie]

 

Suburban DC school district takes Christmas off calendar after Muslims complain November 12, 2014

 

 

KYLE  OLSON 

Kyle founded 
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ROCKVILLE, Md. – Christmas is now just December 25th in the Montgomery County school district.

The suburban DC district stripped Christmas and Jewish holy holidays from its official calendar after Muslim parents complained.

But that’s not good enough as they say the move does “nothing to gain parity and a day off for the Muslim holiday of Eid,” according to WTOP.

“Equality is really what we’re looking for,” Saqib Ali, co-chair of Equality for Eid, says. “Simply saying we’re not going to call this Christmas, and we’re not going to call this Yom Kippur, and still closing the schools, that’s not equality.”

CAIR isn’t happy either.

“What’s really concerning to us is that similar conditions weren’t placed on any other faith community,” a representative of the group, Zainab Chaudry, says, the station reports.

The district is attempting to decouple the breaks from school and religious holidays by calling them “winter break” and “student holidays.”

But school board member Michael Durso says unless the Muslim’s complaints aren’t addressed, “it comes off as insensitive, and I just think we cannot afford to be in that light.”

According to NBC 4, school employee Samira Hussein has campaigned for 20 years to have the Muslim holiday added to the school calendar.

“The Eid is just the same exact as Christmas day or Easter day or Yom Kippur,” she says.

School representatives note absenteeism isn’t much different on the Muslim holidays.

“The absentee rate on the Eid holidays, when they’ve fallen on a school day, haven’t been considerably higher or lower than it is on any other given day,” spokesman Dana Tofig tells the news station.

The Washington Post reports the board 7-1 to stop recognizing the Christian and Jewish holidays.

“This seems the most equitable option,” said board member Rebecca Smondrowski, who proposed the idea, according to the paper.

[lazarus]

The Muslims are right. Recognize all holidays or none at all. That is religious freedom.

[joeb]

The Muslims are right. Recognize all holidays or none at all. That is religious freedom.

Baloney.  Religious freedom, as defined in the US Constitution, is the free expression of religion.  What you're saying is "no expression" of religion.  There is no one saying a Muslim can't celebrate Ramadan or any of their other religious holidays.  That they are suppressing the rights of others to celebrate their religious holidays tells us what they are all about.  And that the school district goes along with them is shameful.

[lazarus]

“Equality is really what we’re looking for,” Saqib Ali, co-chair of Equality for Eid, says. “Simply saying we’re not going to call this Christmas, and we’re not going to call this Yom Kippur, and still closing the schools, that’s not equality.”

 

Notice that they want to be treated equally. Why not put all holidays on the calendar? Why not let everyone celebrate their holidays

[bonnie]

“Equality is really what we’re looking for,” Saqib Ali, co-chair of Equality for Eid, says. “Simply saying we’re not going to call this Christmas, and we’re not going to call this Yom Kippur, and still closing the schools, that’s not equality.”

 

Notice that they want to be treated equally. Why not put all holidays on the calendar? Why not let everyone celebrate their holidays

Notice that they have voluntarily come to America. Equality does not mean that any and all that come here get to change our national holidays and insert their own. Had they wanted all things Muslim they should have stayed where they were. Maybe put as much effort into changing things they don't like about their culture as they do ours. Of course there they  might have lost their heads.

No one is stopping them or anyone else from observing any holiday they wish. As was noted that holiday didn't seem important as it never affected attendance. It is only important now as a power play

[bonnie]

My DIL is a Russian immigrant.When she came to America she did so with the knowledge that she should assimilate into american culture.Not america assimilate to the culture of the country she left behind voluntarily.

Christmas in Russia is Jan 6th. For some reason the very large Russian community here does not expect that to receive the same recognition that our traditional christmas does. My DIL teaches her children about Russian culture but not with the expectation of it replacing american culture.

[lazarus]

Notice that they have voluntarily come to America.

 

I don't see that anywhere. Where does it say that they CAME to America?

[lazarus]

They are Americans!!!  They have as much right to shape the culture as you do.

[bonnie]

They are Americans!!!  They have as much right to shape the culture as you do.

I didn't shape american culture. Many are legal americans,many that demand are not. Really doesn't change anything,my DIL is american as well. Does that mean we now will observe the Russian Christmas,or shall we observe any and all nationalities here? No one is prevented from observing any day they wish.That does not give a special group the right to demand what is part of american culture be blanked out because they are here.

[Tom Wetmore]

Baloney.  Religious freedom, as defined in the US Constitution, is the free expression of religion.  What you're saying is "no expression" of religion.  There is no one saying a Muslim can't celebrate Ramadan or any of their other religious holidays.  That they are suppressing the rights of others to celebrate their religious holidays tells us what they are all about.  And that the school district goes along with them is shameful.

You are confusing personal  expression of religion, which is protected, with official expression of religion, which is in fact restricted by the first amendment. If the government recognizes and fosters the celebration of Christian holidays, it shows a preference  for one religion, Christianity, over other non-Christian religions. As you have said,and as it is supposed to be, nobody is preventing their personal celebration of Ramadan nor would the school not recognizing Christmas prevent anyone from celebrating Christmas personally with their families or in their faith community.  The government needs to stay out of the business of all religions.

[bonnie]

You are confusing personal  expression of religion, which is protected, with official expression of religion, which is in fact restricted by the first amendment. If the government recognizes and fosters the celebration of Christian holidays, it shows a preference  for one religion, Christianity, over other non-Christian religions. As you have said,and as it is supposed to be, nobody is preventing their personal celebration of Ramadan nor would the school not recognizing Christmas prevent anyone from celebrating Christmas personally with their families or in their faith community.  The government needs to stay out of the business of all religions.

I would think that  calling them “winter break” and “student holidays.” hasn't anything to do with religion. 

We are to be protected from government forcing religious observance. A winter break during the Christmas season  isn't forcing anything.You are not required to observe Christmas or any other religious holiday.If the word Christmas is so offensive to Muslims,by all means have a winter break.

It still remains that those that come here should be doing so to assimilate in this country  ,not have America assimilate to the culture they left behind. As my DIL does with Russian Christmas date,not changing the American culture but celebrating her heritage with her children on Jan 6th

[lazarus]

American culture is ever-changing. Any American has s right to seek to change it . Including Muslim Americans or Jewish Americans. That's freedom.

[bonnie]

American culture is ever-changing. Any American has s right to seek to change it . Including Muslim Americans or Jewish Americans. That's freedom.

Had this been about freedom having a winter holiday would have included all.Had this been so important to the Muslim community they would have been observing prior to this.     Didn't seem to matter much before .....The absentee rate on the Eid holidays, when they’ve fallen on a school day, haven’t been considerably higher or lower than it is on any other given day,”

Suddenly it is really important

[lazarus]

Do you object to Jews having their days included?

[bonnie]

Do you object to Jews having their days included?

Not at all. However if the Jews went about it as the Muslims are,Yes.

The Jewish day is important to the Jewish race and always has been .The schools had  very high absentism as the Jews actually celebrated the day. It wasn't done in the manner of if  "you don't give into my demands"

School attendance didn't change because of this very important religious holiday.Suddenly it is all important.

Personally I think  most national holiday's are not about honoring someone,more a paid vacation day. Funded once again by the taxpayer for federal employee's 

[bonnie]

Should schools close for Eid holidays? Muslims are divided Omar Sacirbey |  February 18, 2014  | 11 Comments

 12 98reddit90

 

 10

(RNS) Seema Imam, a professor of education at National Louis University in Chicago, jokes that she wouldn’t mind if schools closed for the Islamic holidays of Eid al-Adha and Eid al-Fitr.

“More days off from work? Sure,” said Imam, whose children grew up in the Chicago public school system.

 Show caption

(RNS) A young boy prays alongside Muslim men at an Eid al-Fitr observance at the U.S. Embassy to Indonesia in Jakarta. Photo courtesy U.S. Embassy to Indonesia.

 This image is available for Web and printpublication. For questions, contact Sally Morrow.

 

Still, she couldn’t bring herself to support a petition urging U.S. schools to close on the two Eid holidays. The online petition, started by a group of middle school students in Virginia, garnered fewer than 20,000 votes. A similar petition that expired in January amassed 65,000 signatures.

The latest petition was created through“We the People,” an online White House platform created by the Obama administration to allow citizens to petition their government for change. By law, if petitions reach 100,000 signatures, the administration is required to review the issue and provide a response.

“There’s not a national Jewish holiday,” said Imam. “So I’m not sure who started this and if they’re really thinking right, because I can’t imagine anybody recognizing a Muslim holiday for the whole country.”

Schools close for Islamic holidays in Dearborn, Mich.; Cambridge, Mass.; Burlington, Vt.; and parts of northern and central New Jersey.

Earlier this month, New York City’s new mayor, Bill de Blasio, said he would support closing schools on Islamic holidays — a position already supported by a majority of city council members but not the previous mayor, Michael Bloomberg.

There have been efforts in Montgomery County, Md., and parts of Florida with significant Muslim populations to persuade school boards to close schools for Islamic holidays.

Still, the petition sparked spirited debate within the Muslim community. Opponents said it showed a lack of civic knowledge, since decisions about school holidays are not made by the executive branch of the federal government, but by local school boards. Others said the petition made Muslims seem unreasonable at a time when they are often accused of demanding special treatment.

“We have to consider what our contributions to this country have been. Essentially, we’ve been in this country for only 30 or 40 years,” said Rizwan Kadir, a business consultant in Chicago. “We haven’t done much for this country to demand something at the federal level.”

Activists Laila Alawa and Wardah Khalid, writing at the Muslim news blogAltMuslim.com, said: “While it is true that Muslims have been discriminated against in the past based on their faith, it does not mean that this is necessarily the reason why their holidays are being excluded from school calendars.”

Some Muslim parents also don’t want federal or local governments telling them when they should celebrate their holidays. The Muslim year and Muslim holidays are based on the lunar calendar. While many Muslims are comfortable relying on astronomical calculations to predict the moon’s movement years in advance, others believe the moon must be sighted by the human eye, making it impossible to schedule holidays in advance.

Nancy Khalil, a doctoral candidate in anthropology at Harvard University, said the petition needed to be considered in the context of who wrote it, namely, a group of middle-school students learning about civil rights.

 Show caption

Muslims praying Eid al-Fitr services at the ISBCC in Boston. RNS photo by Omar Sacirbey

 This image is available for Web and printpublication. For questions, contact Sally Morrow.

 

“It speaks to their understanding of what religious rights are, and it shows they know they have to go out and work for them,” said Khalil. “To me, that seems like a constructive learning experience.”

She also noted that while the significant number of Muslims in Cambridge was the biggest factor in the decision to grant one Muslim holiday off for the year, the city’s school superintendent decided to propose the idea in part because he thought it would be a good way to do something positive for students who faced harassment.

Many Muslims say such decisions should be left up to local school boards who set minimum percentages of students necessary to have a religious holiday declared as a day off, while school districts where Muslims or students of other religions don’t have enough students to merit a day off should give those students excused absences.

“I grew up in a town of 1,100 people, and there weren’t any Muslim people there then, and there aren’t any there now,” said Imam, who likes the idea of a population threshold. “I don’t think the downstate farming communities are going to be able to all of a sudden handle an Eid holiday.”

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

just checked my calendars, and they have holidays listed for Christians, Muslims, Jews, Americans, Canadians, Africans, British, Mexicans, and just about every Catholic "saint" day.  I guess Hallmark wanted to be all-inclusive...  

 

By the way, since when have schools closed for Easter (which is always on a Sunday) or Yom Kippur?  The only religious holiday listed that always falls during a scheduled school break is Christmas.

 

An interesting note on Islamic holidays:  "The exact dates of Islamic holidays cannot be determined in advance, due to the nature of the Islamic lunar calendar. Estimates are based on expected visibility of the hilal  (waxing crescent moon following a new moon) and may vary according to location."

How are schools supposed to calculate and print the school calendars when the Imams themselves have no idea of the dates?

 

Deleting the names of all religious holidays from public school calendars is rather petty.  It's not like the schools are forcing anyone to observe them.  When I went to school in Austria, all the Catholic holidays were listed on the SDA school calendar.  It didn't ruin anyone's psyche.  

[Tom Wetmore]

It really isn't about ruining anyone's psyche. It is a bit more significant than that, a matter of fundamental religious freedom guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. Without checking I would suspect that the constitution of Austria and their concepts of religious freedom are quite different.

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

I must be dense.  I don't see what "religious freedom" has to do with naming "Christmas" as a holiday on a school calendar.  If it isn't a matter of injuring children's psyche's, then what is the problem?

[lazarus]

It strikes me that the freedoms that are touted and reserved for particular kinds of Americans. Freedom is freedom regardless of how we seek to get as long as it's lawful. Even the unlawful persuit of freedom is rewarded.

[bonnie]

I must be dense.  I don't see what "religious freedom" has to do with naming "Christmas" as a holiday on a school calendar.  If it isn't a matter of injuring children's psyche's, then what is the problem?

Maybe someone can explain what religious freedom has to do with this? No one has been prohibited from practicing their faith in the house of worship of their choice.Winter holiday is now to be considered a infringement on the religious freedom of Muslims? How so? No one coming to this country is guaranteed as part of their religious freedom the "right" to demand the inclusion of the holiday of their choice on the calender. Especially when they cannot be specific from year to year exactty what day that should be.

[Tom Wetmore]

As I mentioned before most here are confusing two different aspects of the religion clauses of the First Amendment. "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..."

You all seem to only be focused on the Free Exercise Clause, which is not directly involved in this situation. The Free Exercise Clause basically says the government cannot interfere with a person's right to practice their own religion, or to be free not to practice any religion at all. The calendar issue doesn't directly impact this. However, public school run holiday events that are of a religious nature would raise an concern under the Establishment Clause. But that is not so much the situation in this case.

The other clause is the Establishment Clause which speaks to actions by the government that would favor one religion over another or to act in a religious capacity. This clause basically requires the government to be neutral with regard to religion and is sometimes described as the wall of separation between church and state. While calendar holiday names may seem a minor thing, when the public school system designates on its official calendar that it will recognize specifically Christian holiday breaks but not that of non-Christian religions, it is favoring one religion over all others, I n effect establishing Christianity as the observed religion of the school. The school could try to cover all religions to give all equal coverage, but that gets real complicated. It is a much easier solution to just declare a winter break and not officially designate it with any religious significance. Every religion is treated with equal respect, showing no favortism for any religion. Christians are free to celebrate or not as they wish and non-Christians just get time off.

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

from what I understand of the situation, the vocal Muslim segment of the community is not satisfied with the school district ridding the calendar of all religious holidays.  They are wanting a separate time off/holiday for Eid.  I assume they mean Eid al-Fitr.  That cannot be put on a school calendar, because the specific day varies from year to year. 

 

They are saying that because Christmas falls during the winter break, that the schools are "celebrating" and endorsing Christmas.  That's simply not true.  It seems that the only solution is to have school in session with no breaks, no holidays, no vacations.  That way, nobody gets "special treatment" -- but I doubt that would go over very well with the students. 

 

I understand the Muslim community has the legal right to voice their displeasure and make an issue of unfair treatment of Eid.  But it comes across to me as resembling more of a legal "nusiance suit" mentality than anything else.  Perhaps I'm wrong, but the children whose families are Muslim probably really don't care about the holidays, so much as that they get to have time out from school.  I'd bet it's the parents who have the issue - not the children.

[LifeHiscost]

 

I don't see that anywhere. Where does it say that they CAME to America?

Huh!

 

God is Love! Jesus saves! 

[LifeHiscost]

They are Americans!!!  They have as much right to shape the culture as you do.

Yes! Everybody ought to have the right to behead others that don't accept their religion.

 

God is Love! Jesus saves!