Montgomery County Public Schools in Rockville, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, D.C., is removing any mention of religious holidays off the school calendar. Students will still receive the days off for Christmas, Easter, and Jewish holidays but they will be renamed Winter Break and Spring Break.
Two years ago, members of the Muslim community requested to have two of their religion’s holy days added to the calendar, particularly Eid al-Adha. Students are allowed to miss school for religious holidays; but, the Muslim community felt this was not enough. The Board of Education for the Montgomery County Public Schools, in a vote of 7 to 1, chose to remove all religious named holidays from the calendar.
“The best way to accommodate the diversity of our community is to not make choices about which communities we’re going to respect in our calendar and which ones we’re not going to respect,” says board President Phil Kauffmann.
Matt Bush writes in his article for NPR, “Board Decision Revives Discussion About Religion in Public Schools”:
Samira Hussain, a mother of four and employee for the county schools, stated, “Muslim students in Montgomery County have almost a 100 percent graduation rate. And they have been accepted to some of the top universities in the United States, which is a great testimonial to our county’s fine educational system. These are your students, but Muslim students also need to feel a sense of belonging, recognition and respect for their contributions.”
16 other public school systems across the country have already dropped religious mentions on the school calendar.
My mother always told me the two subjects to avoid at all costs in any conversation are religion and politics. When they come up, revert to the weather.
“My goodness it is pouring down rain today!”
This is one of those subjects I find tough to just gloss over and move on. It is debatable by many that our country was not founded on religious principles – particularly Christian. In the last month I’ve read countless arguments for and against such thoughts. When you read the literature of our Founding Fathers, there is little doubt they based their writings on Christ. They were Christian and their strong moral and spiritual convictions are the basis of which formed the foundations of our nation and government.
“While we are zealously performing the duties of good citizens and soldiers, we certainly ought not to be inattentive to the higher duties of religion. To the distinguished character of Patriot, it should be our highest glory to add the more distinguished character of Christian.” – George Washington — The Writings of Georgia Washington, pp. 342-343.
“Suppose a nation in some distant Region should take the Bible for their only law Book, and every member should regulate his conduct by the precepts there exhibited! Every member would be obliged in conscience, to temperance, frugality, and industry; to justice, kindness, and charity towards his fellow men; and to piety, love, and reverence toward Almighty God … What a Eutopia, what a Paradise would this region be.” –John Adams —Diary and Autobiography of John Adams, Vol. III, p. 9.
“I am a real Christian – that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus Christ.” –Thomas Jefferson, —The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, p. 385.
“The hope of a Christian is inseparable from his faith. Whoever believes in the divine inspiration of the Holy Scriptures must hope that the religion of Jesus shall prevail throughout the earth. Never since the foundation of the world have the prospects of mankind been more encouraging to that hope than they appear to be at the present time. And may the associated distribution of the Bible proceed and prosper till the Lord shall have made ‘bare His holy arm in the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God’ (Isaiah 52:10).” –John Quincy Adams —Life of John Quincy Adams, p. 248.
Of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence, not one was Muslim. We are a nation governed and founded by Christians – not to exclude others – not to persecute others – but on the foundations of God. Slowly but surely we are reversing all that these men believed; all that has worked so well; all upon which we based a nation because we do not want to speak truths but pacify for political correctness.
I live under the rule of the very wise and patriotic Patrick Henry, the man who shouted, “Give me liberty, or give me death!”
“It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here.” —The Trumpet Voice of Freedom: Patrick Henry of Virginia, p. iii.
My Savior, Jesus Christ, wouldn’t have it any other way.
It’s time for believers to become more like our Founding Fathers and reclaim what they fought so hard to obtain. There is a reason so many want to live in our great country, and I believe it is because we were founded under His principles.
