Asymmetric Religion and Philosophy

Here.

Just in time for the holidays, a gift for the Hillsborough County School Board: the chance not to be a national embarrassment over religion and school holidays all over again.

Rearing its ugly head is debate over days off on the school calendar, and, yes, Christmas is safe as always as part of winter break.

So what's the big deal, you ask?

Don't other counties like Pinellas manage to hold classes on Good Friday without the earth opening up to swallow the masses?

Ah, but we're talking Hillsborough here, a place where folks don't take to change so easily, home of the occasional fire-and-brimstone elected official and others willing to sabotage change for their own purposes.

The fracas began years back with tentative talk of days off for other religions (yes, there are others), like a Muslim holiday. But when the School Board moved to sensibly make days off "academic" and not religious, a couple of then-county commissioners went on the conservative TV show The O'Reilly Factor for a national gnashing of teeth. (Bet you could name those commissioners if you tried.)

When the School Board later stuck to its guns and made Good Friday a school day last school year, 60 percent of students, 40 percent of bus drivers and one in four teachers took the day off.

It never ceases to amaze me how secular-minded people take any concern for religion as a priori foolish. In other words, Sue Carlton just called people who wanted to take Good Friday off "embarrassing" without bothering to explain why.

The people of Hillsborough care about their religion and want the school that they pay for to respect what's important to them. So what? That's embarrassing?

Carlton also plays dumb by pretending that there isn't a legitimate issue here.

Why do schools let off for Spring break anyways? Is it a coincidence that the traditional Spring Break happens to occur around one of the two holiest days of the Christian year? Of course not! It was about as randomly chosen as Winter, formerly Christmas, Break.

It's actually a topic of discussion within my son's school district. Spring Break can occur occur on the week that includes Good Friday or the week after. Why not have it the week of Good Friday? It makes no difference to the school, after all, and Christians would be happier. When school was out during Good Friday, did the earth swallow up the school, to re-use Carlton's attempt at mockery.

A-ha! That's just it! Just like the B.C.E. controversy, some people don't want to accommodate Christians even if it makes sense or is more historical. In fact, they would rather do something that would annoy them. What other reason could there be?

What's embarrassing, Ms. Carlton, is that people are so hateful that they'd actually go out of their way to anger the group they hate for no good (Friday or not) reason.