The Catholic Message Board

Obi-Wan Kenobi wrote: ↑Mon Dec 04, 2023 9:03 pm You really think that all religions share those?

Doom wrote: ↑Mon Dec 04, 2023 10:09 pm "Other religions have to request a special accommodation to celebrate a religious holiday that requires abstaining from work"


Ummm...what holidays are these, other than Yom Kippur?

I am not aware of any Muslim, Hindu, or Buddhist holidays that require abstaining from work. I am also unaware of any employer that would be unwilling to grant this accommodation provided it was requested far enough in advance that it wouldn't cause a staffing problem. When I was in Florida, there was a much larger Jewish population than a Catholic one, and so at the beginning of the semester when I was planning the date for exams I was careful not to conflict with the Jewish high holidays because I knew it was possible some of my students might not be able to attend. I had no problem doing this, they didn't need to ask for it, I did it on my own out of simple politeness.

Also, the idea that Christians get all their holy days off automatically is frankly nonsense. I have to work (and had to attend school when I was in school) on Good Friday, All Saints Day, and the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, even though Catholic schools generally have all these days off. Often school starts on August 15, the Feast of the Assumption. Easter is always on Sunday (meaning most people get it off anyway) while Christmas is practically a secular holiday, it is celebrated by more than 90% of the population including most Jews, atheists, and even some Muslims, Hindus, and other religions, although the latter groups don't celebrate the religious aspects of the holiday, only the secular such as cookie swaps, Christmas trees, ugly sweater contests, egg nog and the like. I see nothing wrong with non-Christians enjoying the parts of the Christmas celebration that don't conflict with their beliefs.

Finally, when deciding what holidays the state should observe, it is hardly discriminatory to say that holidays that are celebrated in one way or another by 90% of the population should be preferred over holidays that are celebrated by 5% or 10% of the population and the state can't observe every holiday or government would be shut down 365 days a year. (Okay, maybe not a bad thing.)

Stella wrote: ↑Mon Dec 04, 2023 11:14 pm

Obi-Wan Kenobi wrote: ↑Mon Dec 04, 2023 9:03 pm You really think that all religions share those?

Yes, they are core tenets of the major faiths anyway. Peace, Shalom, Salam. Going to the teachings rather than the extremist and radical interpretations, there's plenty that unites us against deist/atheist type humanism.

Doom wrote: ↑Tue Dec 05, 2023 8:04 pm Ughhh...Christmas is from early Christianity, the earliest recorded celebration of Christmas comes in the form of an early liturgical calendar from the year 354, and it likely dates from much earlier, as it is unlikely that was the first-ever Christmas celebration, there is a huge difference between the first surviving liturgical calendar (post Constantine I am sure that is not a coincidence) and the moment that the concept of a liturgical calendar was invented, and it likely that before Constantine liturgical calendars were never written down.