Public school calendars in New York’s Monroe-Woodbury school district list two Jewish holidays, but no Christian holidays. In response to requests by Christian parents for equal representation, the local Times Herald-Record gave “Jeers” to “some parents with not enough to keep them busy.”
Bill Donohue responded to the paper with the letter below:
Dear Letters Editor:
No wonder so many in your area called our office about your incredibly inane editorial criticizing Catholics for protesting the censorship of Christian holidays–while publishing Jewish ones–in the Monroe-Woodbury school calendar (“Jeers,” 9-17). Your quip that some parents don’t have enough “to keep them busy” smacks of elitism and a rank double standard: If Christmas were mentioned and Jewish holidays were excised, do you really believe Jews wouldn’t (rightly) protest?
Your “solution” is so politically correct it’s nauseating: delete all school holidays by name and just list “days off.” What this demonstrates is your real hatred of diversity–you just want to neuter all religious holidays in the name of “tolerance.” It’s about time you practiced it, instead of invoking it like a mantra.
One more thing. Don’t your editors have enough to keep them busy without dictating morality to local parents?
William Donohue
President
Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights
New York, NY
