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School board bans religious holidays
Nixes days off after Muslim group asked classes be canceled for Eid
Posted: October 27, 2005
1:00 a.m. Eastern

© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com


Rather than add a school holiday for Muslims who were requesting one, a Florida school board has canceled all religious observances – including Yom Kippur, Good Friday and the day after Easter.

The Hillsborough County School Board this week approved its 2006-07 calendar without the religious holidays, on a 6-1 vote, the Tampa Tribune reported.

"A school board cannot recognize a religious holiday for the sole purpose of recognizing a religious holiday," board attorney Tom Gonzalez is quoted as telling a packed meeting of the panel Tuesday.

The controversy began when Ahmed Bedier, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, in December requested a school holiday for Eid Al-Fitr, a holy day marking the end of Ramadan. The board then decided to reconsider the district calendar, voting to delete all religious holidays.

Bedier called the change away from observing religious holidays "just an excuse to hide bias against the Muslims."

Bishop Chuck Leigh, president of the Florida Council of Churches, backed Bedier, telling the Tampa paper: "I think it's really petty on the part of the school board. ... Instead of giving them one holiday, they decided they're not going to give anybody anything."

Bedier told Tampa Bay's 10 News: "It will stigmatize and cause friction between Christian and Jewish students and Muslim students, because now kids at schools will say, 'Hey, the Muslim kids were responsible for us losing our holiday.'"

Several individuals connected to the Council on American-Islamic Relations have been indicted on terrorism-related charges. In addition, CAIR's chairman of the board, Omar Ahmad, was cited by a California newspaper in 1998 declaring the Quran should be America's highest authority. He also was reported to have said Islam is not in America to be equal to any other religion but to be dominant.

Board member Jennifer Faliero voted against the new calendar, saying she believes Good Friday has become a secular holiday in American culture.

"It is now about the Easter Bunny. ... They have taken religion out of it completely," she said.

The policy of excusing students with no penalty on their religious holidays will continue, board members stressed.

School board bans religious holidays (http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47063)

i must be getting old. I forgot the [ img ] Grrrrrrr!

It's not anti-religion .....  it's anti-Christian. The ACLU and CAIR are actually happy about this decision as it is at least winning a part of their battle.

ok it makes no sense to punish all holidays rather than just one that some one requests to make a day for it canceling school for religious belief.  I mean it was just a request to make it a holiday, not to take all religeous holidays of the calender just becaise they dont want to add another one, and yea at least another non-chrtian bites the dust but next the whole nation will pick up on this and next no christmas vacation no easter vacation for the whole nation. I I just think that instead of requesting a holiday for that group just let the children that are muslims take the day/week off for their religous practice instead of letting both muslims and christians suffer besides I think that their ruling is unconstituional and should have been ruled by a judge, not the schoolboard.

Attorney Applauds Restoration of Religious Holidays to School Calendar

By Jim Brown
November 15, 2005

(AgapePress) - A Christian attorney is praising a decision by a Florida school board to once again recognize religious holidays on the district's school calendar.

The Hillsborough County School Board had decided to eliminate all religious holiday vacation days after Muslims in Tampa requested that students be given a day off to celebrate the end of Ramadan. However, after this decision generated widespread public outrage and national media attention, the board members reversed course and voted 5-2 to restore several religious holidays to next year's school calendar.

Attorney Mat Staver with the Orlando-based legal group Liberty Counsel provided the Hillsborough County School Board with a memo regarding the constitutionality of celebrating Christmas in schools. He says this particular case illustrates a problem that happens all over the U.S., especially at this time of year.

"We have religious discrimination that occurs in the public schools and other public venues throughout the year," Staver points out, "but it seems to crescendo at the end of the year, whenever we get toward the holiday season and the Christmas celebration time. This case ... is a little bit of a combination of both [censorship of] Christmas and discrimination in general against religious expression."

The newly revised Hillsborough district calendar gives students days off for Yom Kippur, Good Friday, and the Monday after Easter. The Liberty Counsel attorney applauds this school board for its decision, but he contends that in many other areas around the country, school officials are unaware of what the Constitution and court precedent say about freedom of religious expression and are unlawfully restricting people's right to celebrate according to their beliefs.

"If anyone is frustrated by what they see in their community or nationwide," Staver says," this is an encouraging illustration that when you get involved you can make a difference. Telephone calls, e-mails, letters, and other information and pressure can actually make a huge difference."

The kind of bureaucracy that enacts religious censorship or discrimination as a matter of policy may seem to immovable, but Staver asserts that, "obviously, it is not." When individuals or communities stand up and speak out for their constitutional rights, he notes, they can often make their voices heard, "and this case illustrates that very point."