Letter of the day: When holy and secular calendars collide

Last update: April 11, 2008 - 5:53 PM

Katherine Kersten's recent columns about Tarek Ibn Ziyad Academy raise questions, with an underlying assumption that cannot go unchallenged.

Can publicly funded schools make room for religious practices when the school week schedule overlaps with the schedule for the practice? Each Saturday evening and Sunday, Christians gather to worship. And, each Friday evening and Saturday, Jews gather to worship. Both Saturday and Sunday, days of worship for Christians and Jews, are weekend days when schools are not in session. How do we as a culture, then, handle a religion whose weekly holy day falls during our workweek?

Faithful Muslims around the world practice their religion by attending Friday prayer. Should Muslim children be excused from class to pray during that time? If we had seven-day-a-week school, wouldn't Christian parents want their children to be able to pray on Sunday? Wouldn't Jewish parents want their children to observe Shabbat on Saturday? Our secular calendar has already accommodated the dominant religions and so the dominant religion does not feel a conflict.

Certainly freedom to practice religion in the United States extends beyond Christianity. How do we honor the right of people to faithfully practice their religion when their holy calendar conflicts with our secular calendar? It is not a question that will be answered by official investigations, but by us as a society that values the right of freedom of religion.

The freedom for people in this country to practice religion is a right that the Minnesota Council of Churches defends vigorously.

GAIL ANDERSON, UNITY AND RELATIONSHIPS ORGANIZER,

MINNESOTA COUNCIL OF CHURCHES, MINNEAPOLIS

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