It is the start of the week leading up to the Christian holiday of Easter- the day that Christians believe that Christ was resurrected from the dead, preceded by Good Friday, when it is believed that Christ was crucified. I wish my Christian brethren a happy holiday and respect their beliefs, as all religious traditions have their place, and freedom of religion is an important aspect of our national fabric. However, I have an issue with the fact the Good Friday- as is Christmas day, is a state holiday in my state of New Jersey as well as in 12 other states where state employees are given the day off at the expense of the taxpayers. I am aware of the fact that there have been court rulings that allow states to declare Good Friday a paid legal holiday, but with an important caveat that may not hold up under scrutiny -the stipulation that the state must articulate a secular purpose in doing so. But is the contention that Good Friday has a secular purpose valid? In Bridenbaugh v. O'Bannon : Seriously? The decision was based on the idea that Good Friday was not picked for religious purposes? It has an “indirect effect “ on making it easier to practice their religion? It seems pretty flimsy to me. In Granzeier v. Middleton, the reasoning is equally suspect So, good Friday is a (secular ) holiday because the children are on break the following week? Or, are the children on break because of the religious holiday? Give me a (spring) break! The Court then further ruled that a reasonable observer would not conclude that the closings were made for he purpose of endorsing Christianity: A reasonable observer would not conclude…..? Seriously? I’m not the only one not buying it: . And think about this: Also to be considered- should other religious groups have to wait for the day when they might be represented in more substantial numbers, or should we be guided by the principle that minorities, even small ones should enjoy the same constitutional protections as the majority.?
It is known, you think some christians beliefs are delusional. And should be thrown in jail for living those beliefs. No need to start another thread to show it. Why not start the real thread you want, should all christian beliefs be outlawed. Or all religions be outlawed.
I’m a non-religious secularist and frankly, I don’t care. It is clear that Good Friday (and Easter Monday here in the UK) are public/state holidays because of the Christian calendar and due to this, US authorities have to engage in these mental gymnastics to justify it in the context of your theoretically secular government. In practical terms though, is there really any harm? Would there be any real benefit from scrapping these public holidays? I actually don’t think it’s supporting Christianity in practice, rather the “nationalisation” of these holidays have led to their secularisation in the public sphere. For most people, Easter is about bunnies, chocolate and a long weekend rather than a religious celebration of divine resurrection.
You don't care? OK. But may I suggest that if you were a religious Jew, Muslim, Hindu or whatever, who worked in the public sector, and who's holiday was important, you might care. Those people must negotiate for their time off on their holidays and use time that they have on the books- if any- if they want to or need to get paid for the day off. Yes, Easter for most people is about bunnies and chocolate, but for some it is clearly religious, and it is those who the government is pandering to at the expense of people of other faiths. There most certainly is a harm being done. Rather than just have Christian holidays, a better idea would be to give all employees a certain number of paid religious holidays to use as they wish.
Scrapping these public holidays wouldn’t make any difference to anyone else negotiating leave on any other days (regardless of the reason) and could make it more difficult for non-Christians seeking time off around this period for any of the secular events that commonly occur at the same time. It could also add complications for many businesses, who would either have to prevent enough staff from taking leave on those days to run on that day or close anyway but at their own cost (since staff would still have the days leave available to take on other days). As I said, I’m not denying the effective Christian bias, though that’s a function of history rather than any proactive decision, I just don’t think making the kind of changes you’re suggesting would make things better, it’d just shift the practical issues elsewhere. I think there are more important things in this field to focus on that this would pose a major distraction to. Incidentally, would you apply the same principle to Christmas, which is a public holiday for exactly the same reasoning as Easter but would obviously have significantly greater impact on the wider population were you to make the same changes there?
Our local government hides that it is a holiday. Half the office staff takes Friday off and half takes Monday off. The only ones who get screwed are the hourly workers who don't get either or holiday pay. It usually boils down to which ones have kids in school as to whether they do Friday or Monday. Parents generally want the Monday. I know some businesses that have invented "floating" holidays so they do not officially recognize certain holidays--like MLK day and Easter Monday--but those "floating" holidays almost always fall on those two every year.
Its not a federal holiday, states can or not upon their choosing make it one or not. I have no problem with that. When I went to school back in the 1950's, the schools were closed on Good Friday. Not anymore, Good Friday is just another day of the week today. It wasn't a state or paid holiday back then. But whatever state wants to make it or anything else a state holiday, that is up to them. You have the vote, change those in state government if it irks you.
Have you read through the post? Yes states have that choice and I believe that 13 states designate it as a state holiday. I think that schools are also still closed in many states. There were two federal court cases concerning this issue (documented above) that found that states may make it a holiday if they articulate a secular purpose in doing so. In those case, the so called secular reasons were rather flimsy in my opinion. This is a religious freedom issue and should not be voted on and left to a tyranny of the majority.
Well, its not about making things harder or easier for anyone, or more or less complicated for business. I agree that there are drawbacks for business but that does not mean that we should not have a commitment to basic fairness and religious freedom being applied equally to all people.
I know it's not your intent and I’ve nothing against the principle, I just think that where we have a situation that isn’t having any significant negative impact on anyone and the proposed change would have significant impact on some people, it might be better to accept the status quo (or at least find a better way to improve the situation). After all, what we’re essentially opposing in the first place is blindly following principles regardless of the practical realities.
States can make anything a holiday. And in a Christian-majority nation, I don't have a big issue with major Christian holidays being the basis of holidays. It's practical, if nothing else. However, two thoughts: -- We are increasingly becoming a secular nation. Maybe we keep the Christian holidays for tradition reasons, but there's an increasingly strong argument for choosing holidays using a different basis. -- We should cancel one of these holidays (or simply add another holiday) in order to make Election Day a holiday. Being unable to get off work or otherwise not having time to vote is a huge, unnecessary barrier to voting. Give people the day off, and then schedule events on that day to make the focus on the civic duty/opportunity of voting.
Easter is a secular holiday where we celebrate chocolate rabbits and jelly beans in green confetti baskets.
But it is having a significantly negative impact on some. I managed personnel in a state agency for a while. Most of the people where some variety of Christian but there was a number of Muslims and Jews. For those holidays , we could not give all of the Muslims or all of the Jews the time off that they wanted all at the same time. It caused a lot of tension and interpersonal problems. I acknowledged that there are practical issues to be overcome, but when weighing those practical issues against equal treatment of individuals, and not sanctioning any one religion over another, I will choose equality any time.
I don't buy it. I have three options for voting--absentee without cause (I could ask for ballots to be sent to me for the elections for the next 18 months, and no reason for asking for an absentee ballot has to be given), early voting or precinct voting on election day. Precinct voting is from 7 to 7. If you can't vote during all of those times, you don't want to vote.
