Bill Donohue comments on religious holidays in the public schools:
We are not supposed to say that we are a Christian nation, but everyone knows we are. In 1892, the U.S. Supreme Court explicitly said we were. Atheist Sam Harris knows we are as well, which is why he titled his anti-Christian book, Letter to a Christian Nation. Indeed, 8 in 10 Americans are Christian, and 95 percent of Americans who practice a religion are Christian. Moreover, the people who founded America were not Hindu or Muslim—they were Christians, men who drew on the Judeo-Christian ethos to establish the freest nation in the world.
Given the data, why are we afraid to recognize Christian and Jewish holidays in the public schools, while saying no to all other religious holidays? Because of the secular virtue of inclusion? All holidays exclude people. To wit: Mother’s Day and Veteran’s Day exclude most people. So what? Moreover, is there any other nation in the world that feels compelled to lie about its history by recognizing cultures and traditions that have absolutely nothing to do with its heritage?
In New York City, we have an agnostic mayor, Bill de Blasio, who refuses to march in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade but is committed to recognizing Muslim holidays in the schools; Diwali, the Hindu holiday, is giving him fits over what to do. The New York City Council speaker, Melissa Mark-Viverito, also believes in nothing (save for dabbling in Voodoo), will not march with Irish Catholics, and is mostly known for refusing to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. Both of these neo-Marxists now want to close the schools for the Lunar New Year, a Chinese holiday that is so “sacred” it is celebrated in Communist China.
The Board of Education in Montgomery County, Maryland says it will continue to close the schools on Christian and Jewish holidays, but it will not allow the schools to say why. By pretending no one knows why the schools are closed on these days, they believe they are practicing tolerance. Actually, they are lying. Welcome to the Land of Diversity and Dishonesty in 2014.
