As the New York Times reports, the City Council voted overwhelmingly on June 30th to add two Muslim holidays to the NY public school calendar. As of now, no Muslim holidays are on the calendar although about 12% (> 100,000) of the public school system's students identify as Muslim. This would have been fine and dandy but Mayor Bloomberg, who became the autocrat of NYC's public schools in 2000 and ultimately designates days off from the NYC public school calendar (and pretty much everything else) has opposed the measure.
Bloomberg explains that: "If you close the schools for every single holiday, there won't be any school," G. Oliver Koppell, one of the few council members to vote against the measure, explains that if one would accept these days, then other holidays on the schedule would have to be trimmed.
God forbid anyone took one day off Hanukkah, what would that menorah look like?!?
Koppell goes on to explain that if other religious groups in NY start demanding their own days off then "Where are we going to end with this?"
In other words, if non-authoritative religious groups in NYC begin demanding their fair share of recognition and respect then we may just swirl into a chaotic abyss of truancy. Worse yet, it might even expose how ludicrous it is to force unwilling individuals to sit in buildings for 9+ hours a day, 5+ days a week, 9+ months a year.
The argument "Where are we doing to end with this?" smells terribly familiar. Oh yes, it reminds me of the arguments against gay marriage and legal recognition of one's non-conforming gender expression. Usually the arguments sounds something like this: "But if we allow two men to marry then the next thing that will happen is that women will marry frogs and llamas will marry blenders" and "If we allow men to identify as women on their driver's licenses then where will it end? Soon women will identify as frogs and llamas as blenders."
Oh the Judeo-Christian organization of the world. Will it ever deconstruct?
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