A decision by a suburban Washington school district to continue closing for Jewish and Christian holidays — but not label them as such on the school calendar — has ignited a firestorm from right-wing bloggers and commentators.
On Tuesday, the Montgomery County Board of Education voted to remove the religious designations after local Muslims had complained that the district observes Christmas, Easter, Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah, but does not offer vacation on any Muslim holidays.
“School Dumps Christmas to Appease Muslims” was how Todd Starnes of Fox News Radio framed the headline.
Describing the issue as “a new battleground in the war on Christmas” and “bad news for you Jews and gentiles out there,” Starnes implied that the holidays will be eliminated rather than just not identified on the school calendar. (“That means no more Christmas, no more Easter and no more Yom Kippur,” he claimed, later noting that the school board “opted to eliminate all religious holidays.”)
In a similar vein, The Blaze wrote “School District Bans Christmas, Easter and Jewish Holidays From Calendar Following Debate Over Muslim Request.”
The Examiner, which accompanied its article with a still from the film “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” headlined it “Christmas, Easter, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur stricken from school calendar.”
Some of the reaction on Twitter has been similarly melodramatic – and anti-Muslim as well as anti-religion.
A Washington Post online survey showed that 79 percent of the respondents disagreed with the Montgomery County decision.
Following is random sample of some of the 2300 comments on the decision:
“The end result of the school system is twice as stupid and equally closed minded.”
“Some action on this issue should have happened decades ago. There is no reason for schools to be closed for religious holidays, whether they be Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Wiccan, or elfish.”
“That’s so ironic… Why those Muslims don’t go to ask for equality in the middle east?? Christians are not allowed to even show their beliefs in Saudi Arabia and Jews are not allowed even to enter that country… And now Muslim come to America saying that they are not equal… So please leave America and go back to the “freedom” in middle east.”
“’love it or leave it’ is actually written in the constitution.”
“This is a silly mistake, by a group of people with a thankless task, trying to be sensitive, and screwing it up. I don’t have a perfect answer, but go back where you came from is worse than mine.”
“Gee, the Constitution doesn’t provide ‘love it or leave it’ as an option. In fact, it prohibits establishing a religion. Religious holidays have no place in public schools. If there’s a reason to close on particular days, set standards and enforce them.”
“Stupid Freakthinkers and Muslims, if you have any money that says “IN GOD WE TRUST” on it, you can send it to me.”
“honestly, I don’t see the problem. Not all Americans are Christian or Jewish. That’s the point of separation of church and state. I personally have no issue with my kids learning about all different kinds of religions and holidays, etc… But it really isn’t fair to recognize only a couple religions but not the rest just because you don’t agree with them…..”
“I went to school in Arizona, and in the sixth grade Mrs. Shapiro took a little time out from her fifth grade class down the hall to come and talk about the Jewish holidays with us. Loved it…”
“This is funny – the fundies would rather eliminate their own religious holidays than give recognition to muslim holidays. Heh, heh, heh . . . And then you wonder why the young reject your religion and hold those bigots who claim to be religious in such deep and utter contempt. Congratulations, there, Montgomery, you just pounded another nail into the coffin of religion in America. Well done!”