The short version of the story from the Sun-Sentinel goes something like this:
A Muslim family, represented by a spokesperson, asked their child's school district to add the Islamic holiday Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan, to the school calendar so their child would not have to miss school. The school board acted too politically correct in my opinion and decided not to link any religious holidays (except Christmas) with a day off for all students and teachers. However, the district does allow students to take off holidays their religion observes without penalty. What was the result of this decision?
The local school board reinstated Good Friday, Easter Monday and Yom Kippur as school holidays after getting more than 3,500 e-mails from around the country criticizing its earlier decision to eliminate them rather than add a Muslim holiday.
The board's earlier vote had resulted in denunciations on conservative and Christian talk radio shows nationwide, leading to the e-mail barrage and impassioned speeches at Tuesday's meeting asking that the holidays be restored.
The superintendent was interviewed on the news last night and said she couldn't believe the hateful mail people sent to her - and actually had the nerve to sign. They weren't angry simply because their holidays were removed from the calendar, they were angry because the Muslim family wanted one added.
The family who initially requested the change was gracious and backed off the fight. As one of their spokesmen for the Council on American-Islamic Relations said, "We've been adamant the last two weeks that we would give up on our request for a holiday so the other religions won't lose theirs."
How ironic. The Christians in this situation could learn a thing or too from the Muslims about loving thy neighbor.
No comments:
Post a Comment