Massachusetts schools to observe Muslim holidays shortly

By Catholic Online
10/11/2010
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

School system acknowledges growing number of Muslim students

Acknowledging that American society is becoming increasingly diverse, public schools in Cambridge, Massachusetts will start to make it easier for Muslim students to honor their highest holy days. Cambridge will close schools for one Muslim holiday each year beginning in the 2011-2012 school year. Schools will either close for Eid al-Fitr or Eid al-Adha, also known as the Festival of Sacrifice, depending on which holiday falls within the school year. If both fall within the school calendar, the district will close for only one of the days.

State and federal laws require schools to make reasonable accommodation of the religious needs of students and in observance of holy days.

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LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The decision, announced last month, comes at a time when acknowledging the Muslim faith in the United States has reached a broiling point. Discussion and controversy has swelled over a Mosque proposal to be built two blocks from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York along with Florida preacher Terry Jones's threat to burn a Korans. The discussion has also touched local schools, as Wellesley school officials drew criticism recently for a video that showed sixth-grade students kneeling during a prayer service at a Boston mosque during a field trip in May.

Cambridge School Committee member Marc McGovern, who favors the measure, said he thinks people need to take a step back from what he called hysteria and the stereotypes of all Muslims as terrorists.

"At a time when I think the Muslim population is being characterized with a broad brush in a negative way, I think it's important for us to say we're not going to do that here," McGovern says.

McGovern points out that Cambridge schools already close for some Christian and Jewish holidays, and McGovern said he believes Muslims should be treated equally.

"The issue that sort of came up was should we celebrate any religious holidays, but there was not the will to take away Good Friday or one of the Jewish holidays," he said. "So I said, if that is the case, I think we have an obligation to celebrate one of the Muslim holidays, as well."

State and federal laws require schools to make reasonable accommodation of the religious needs of students and in observance of holy days, but the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education leaves the decision about how to do that up to individual school districts because they "know best about the needs and unique demographic makeup of their student population and community," a spokesman for the department says.

If a school district has a large number of students who observe Good Friday and would not attend school that day, the districts are allowed to close because of the expected low attendance. But the state does require districts to schedule at least 180 days of school.

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Pope Benedict XVI's Prayer Intentions for January 2013
General Intention: The Faith of Christians. That in this Year of Faith Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and witness joyfully to the gift of faith in him.
Missionary Intention: Middle Eastern Christians. That the Christian communities of the Middle East, often discriminated against, may receive from the Holy Spirit the strength of fidelity and perseverance.

Keywords: Holy Days, Muslim, holidays, school system

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1 - 10 of 21 Comments

dav
9 months ago
It is amazing to me, how they remove all Catholicism practices ..like praying , in schools, etc but now we are forced to accept a Muslim holiday..when we are sending our troops there to be killed..excuse me ,this is still our country , which was based on IN GOD WE TRUST,,they need to be more sensitive to our country and less wanting to make this there country..I am all for different beliefs and cultures, but tired of always being put on back of the bus ,,,the USA should always be first in their own country...live here if you so choose and follow our rules.,
Bulbajer
2 years ago
John D., look. I am not a Muslim, nor could I ever be, not only because of my Christian beliefs, but mainly because of the reality of the kind of man Muhammad was. I disagree with a lot of Islamic positions, and I take the saying "Islam is a religion of peace" with a grain of sense. The reason why I am defending Islam here is because there is so much Islamophobia (ILLEGITIMATE fear of Muslims, not legitimate criticism) in America that it is disgusting. Just because Europe is at the opposite extreme doesn't mean we would do right by trusting zero Muslims. The theory that Muslims who don't encourage violence or hate are being deceptive is a conspiracy theory. Sure, that's the way some of them act. For example, important Islamic figures will sometimes suck up to the West by denouncing the extremists. Some of them are deliberately being deceptive, I don't doubt that. But going so far as to transform your legitimate criticisms of Islam into open hostility to any Muslim, as many have done on this site, makes you just as bad as the liberals who instinctively characterize Muslims as innocent and misunderstood. Stop listening to the haters long enough to listen to the other side, then use reason to figure out what's true and what's crud. (That's what I've been doing since I first came to this website. I'm still a darn liberal to you, but you should have seen me before!) And because nativism plays a large role in the American anti-Islam movement, and we Catholics know just how bad that can be. THAT is why I have been defending Islam. Finally, I've said this before, and I'll say it again. During Islam's Golden Age and indeed for much of history it was a heck of a lot more tolerant and peaceful than Christianity. I get that from education, not deceptive works by deceptive Muslims. Obviously, that is not the case today. So what's my point? Don't judge a religion and its people by its bad aspects. The fact that you don't see anything "much of anything that anyone wants" in what the history of Islamic thinking, culture, etc. tells me you do exactly that. The problem of Islamic terrorism will not be solved by a massive clash between the West and the East, aka the war that would doom the world. So why are you pitting Muslims against Christians? There is a middle ground, where both sides can realize their differences and problem solve instead of kill each other. What's the best way to avoid conflict? Realize that there's never two sides to an issue. Anthropologists will back me up on that one.
And Vance, I'm sorry, but I'm not in a good mood today, as you can probably guess by my above last-ditch comment to John. So I'm sure you'll understand when I suggest that you and your non-sequiturs "go jump somewhere", to quote you from other articles.
teresa
2 years ago
Excellent point John D. It seems that people are so afraid of reality that they are taking refuge in denial. Here in Europe, in Catholic Ireland people are literally bending over backwards to enhance Islam. It cannot be criticised. The women's council of Ireland complained about Ryanair's use of some fairly tacky calendars but refused to be drawn on the subject of ill treatment of women in some Islamic communities. To raise the issue about why muslims come to a country that is so patently at odds with their beliefs is to be labelled a racist. In the UK it is already well established that some muslims working as checkout assistants refuse to serve people buying pork or alcohol. Some muslim bus drivers refuse to allow blind people accompanied by guide dogs on their buses. These instances are not made up, but they are indicators of things to come. In Christ we have a Lord who preached love, many of his followers have disgraced him by their actions, but not one of them can claim that He ever incited hate or violence.
andrew
2 years ago
John D, I loved that 8:24am post. Chameleons are lizards at the core of it all, she·nan·i·gans at best. They are prepared to lose their tails to stay alive and can be very poisonous too. Jerry knows that many here are aware of it.
God Bless you and may He be your guide.
John D
2 years ago
Bulbajer, it seems you know much more about Islam then you initially let on. Curiously, you seem to be better able to defend Islam then Catholicism. Check this web site for a discussion of the use of deception in Islam: http://www.meforum.org/2095/islams-doctrines-of-deception. Bottom line, deception is permitted if it serves the greater good of spreading Islam and Islamic Law. Many of Islam's best thinkers were converts recently forced into the religion. Because the coercive nature of Islam is countercurrent to human nature, it has not produced much of anything that anyone wants. Human beings simply do not flourish under constant threat and coersion. This explains the basic lack of progress in the Islamic world, nothwithstanding accomplishments of hundreds of years a go. Lastly, your commentary echoes Islamic literature designed to down play the nastier parts of Islam while emphasizing the nicer parts. These booklets are specifically designed to sell Islam to unknowing westerners.
Rob
2 years ago
If US Catholics lived there faith, we wouldn't be concerned about this problem. We can point fingers all we want, but from everything that I see it appears that the muslims are doing a much better job at living, defending and promoting their faith than we are. Our congregations can't be neck deep in the "world" and then cry foul when our government or society starts to pay less attention to us. For decades we have failed to practice what we preach and now we are reaping what we sew. If we want to turn this corner, reclaim society, we have to start seriously living our faith. Our popular culture and government have stopped listening. But a strong example of our faith will overcome all of these problems. Personally, I have more faith in Christ and his Church to overcome these issues than our government.
Miss Marie
2 years ago
It is disturbing to me that all the various Christian religions practicing in the United States, particularly my beloved Catholic Church, did little or nothing while Christian references were removed from our schools, our textbooks, our communities, etc., yet, we seem to be encouraging the muslim indoctrination of our children and communities whenever possible.
When does tolerance become submission? Will we be able to identify the difference before it is too late?
vance
2 years ago
Bulbajer, Close minded? Not deep thinkers? I think you are confusing Catholics with your Liberal Marxist friends. Your ACLU buddies are still hot at it to erradicate Christmas from the public square. Your radical leftist heros Obama, Reid, and Pelosi rammed through two justices with their super majority to accomodate the ACLU's agenda. Christmas in school? Christian prayer in school? Are you kidding me?? NOOOO we can't have that because we have 'Separation of Church and State' BUUUT Let's be 'OPEN MINDED' and 'DEEP THINKERS' and let's have Muslim prayers and holidays in school. I worked for years around children of the Liberal Establishment like youself. Open minded? NAAA. Deep thinkers? Not even.
Rob
2 years ago
I say we just eliminate holidays. That way we can ensure there isn't a Christian, Muslim, Buddist or Jewish conspiracy.

I didn't even have to read the comments to know what the arguements would immediately be. Geez. LOL
Bulbajer
2 years ago
I didn't say Catholics couldn't be good thinkers. There are many examples of good Catholic thinking, such as the people you cited. Your original statement, "Catholics, throughout history, have shown themselves to be very deep thinkers and seekers of the truth", to me implies that Muslims have not produced great thinkers, when clearly they have. Take for example, early Islamic political philosopher Al-Farabi, and modern political philosopher Muhammad Iqbal. Both advocated rebublican forms of government with strong democratic aspects. Islamic feminism is especially popular today, and there have been several female heads of state for Islamic countries. Middle Ages ethicist Ibn al-Qayyim argued for religious pluralism in the legal system. Scholars Scholars Sufyan al-Thawri and Hasan at-Turabi argued against the use of the death penalty for male Muslim apostates. A number of early Caliphates introduced human rights laws that are comparable with modern laws, and certain surpassed those of Christian Europe at the time. al-Kindi, Ibn Rushd, Ibn Sina, and countless more scholars of the Islamic Golden Age contributed to the vast collection of ideas known as Islamic philosophy, and they also helped preserve many classical texts that came to influence Christianity. Of course, much of modern Islam is infused with a patriarchal, literalist interpretation of the Qur'an, as expounded upon in the "When Islam Abandoned Reason" article on Catholic Online(http://www.catholic.org/ae/books/review.php?id=37873). And the use of deception you are referring to is a misinterpretation of the Qur'an. Taqiyya is the concept of lying about being a Muslim, and it is allowed in dangerous circumstances, such as persecution or other threat to the Muslim in question. Taqiyya may also be used to protect others from harm. Nowhere does the Qur'an endorse lying in order to promote Islam. The verses in question are 16:106 ("Those who disbelieve in GOD, after having acquired faith, and become fully content with disbelief, have incurred wrath from GOD. The only ones to be excused are those who are forced to profess disbelief, while their hearts are full of faith") and 3:28 ("“Let not the believers take those who deny the truth for their allies in preference to the believers – since he who does this cuts himself off from God in everything – unless it be to protect yourself against them in this way…”). Of course, there are a variety of interpretations of these verses, and fundamentalists are probably prone to justifying the use of lying. But again, there are a variety of interpretations, and some of the "peaceful" interpretations are considered mainstream, despite what JihadWatch would have you believe. About Saudi Arabia: I have stated in other posts that Saudi Arabia is one of my least favorite countries in the world, due to it being a grossly corrupt theocracy, devoid of most human rights. The moderates in that country, I would guess, are few. Finally, I do not want to open the door to intolerance. That makes no sense. But Islam is not 100% intolerance, just like it is not 100% tolerance.

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