'Good Friday' not good enough for Davenport
The Mississippi River city of Davenport, Iowa has decided that calling the holiday school kids and municipal officials get this Friday "Good Friday" violates the separation of church and state.
Horse hockey, as Col. Potter used to say on M*A*S*H.
There is a vast difference between government at any level acknowledging the religious beliefs of a certain group within the population, and that same government endorsing those beliefs. One might even argue that all of us taking a day off on the holy days of other people's religions might help us to understand those religions better, and foster an increased appreciation for the diversity of our society.
Jefferson never wrote that the government should be hostile to one religion, or all religions, or even that it should pretend that they don't exist (while I would expect atheists and agnostics to bristle at this, their belief systems are properly granted exactly the same treatment Christianity or Judaism or Islam receives at the hands of the government; there is no constitutional ground for either discriminating against them, or granting them favored treatment). It is enough that the government be neutral as regards the various belief systems- including atheism and agnosticism.
So if atheists and agnostics want to set up a special day on which they go to work as usual and do nothing out of the ordinary, I would even be willing to join in that observance in acknowledgment of their beliefs. But I really don't see the problem with Jewish kids taking a day off from school on Good Friday, or Christian kids on Yom Kippur- and calling those holidays by their proper names. Seems to me that respect for the beliefs of others is something government has a stake in encouraging, and which Jefferson and Madison themselves would view with favor.
HT: Drudge
Horse hockey, as Col. Potter used to say on M*A*S*H.
There is a vast difference between government at any level acknowledging the religious beliefs of a certain group within the population, and that same government endorsing those beliefs. One might even argue that all of us taking a day off on the holy days of other people's religions might help us to understand those religions better, and foster an increased appreciation for the diversity of our society.
Jefferson never wrote that the government should be hostile to one religion, or all religions, or even that it should pretend that they don't exist (while I would expect atheists and agnostics to bristle at this, their belief systems are properly granted exactly the same treatment Christianity or Judaism or Islam receives at the hands of the government; there is no constitutional ground for either discriminating against them, or granting them favored treatment). It is enough that the government be neutral as regards the various belief systems- including atheism and agnosticism.
So if atheists and agnostics want to set up a special day on which they go to work as usual and do nothing out of the ordinary, I would even be willing to join in that observance in acknowledgment of their beliefs. But I really don't see the problem with Jewish kids taking a day off from school on Good Friday, or Christian kids on Yom Kippur- and calling those holidays by their proper names. Seems to me that respect for the beliefs of others is something government has a stake in encouraging, and which Jefferson and Madison themselves would view with favor.
HT: Drudge
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