From Robert Knight:
After decades of chipping away at America’s Christian heritage, the liberal enforcers of “equality” and “tolerance” are more open about the brave new future they envision: It’s their way or nobody’s way.
They have willing accomplices in Americans who fold at the slightest challenge.
Confronted with Muslim demands for equal status with Christian and Jewish holidays, the school board in Montgomery County, Md., voted 7-1 on Nov. 11 to do away with acknowledging all religious-themed holidays.
Schoolchildren will get vacations at Christmas and Easter, and days off for Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah. However, as with the evil Lord “He-who-must-not-be-named” Voldemort in the “Harry Potter” books, the holidays shall go unnamed on school calendars, replaced by Winter Break, Spring Break and days with “no school for students and teachers.”
Explaining the cultural cleansing, school board member Rebecca Smondrowski said, “It is about equity. I made the motion because if we are closing for operational reasons, then there should be no need to make reference to religion.”
So, even though Christmas is the reason for the December closing, everyone is now supposed to pretend that it’s merely for “operational” purposes. One hundred percent of staff and students coincidentally just happen to be absent during Christmas week.
The nonsense began because Montgomery County has a small but growing Muslim population, and activists pressured the schools to recognize Eid al-Adha, which this year fell on Oct. 4. The holiday comes at the end of the hajj, the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca.
Last year, Muslim leaders asked parents to keep their children home from school on Eid al-Adha to persuade officials to give it equal status with Christian and Jewish holidays. Absences increased only slightly from a comparable day the previous week.
Undeterred, Muslim leaders tried again, triggering the erasure of all religious holidays. Ironically, the leaders decried the outcome, saying they did not intend to scrub the school calendar of all religious references. “They have alienated other communities now, and we are no closer to equality,” said Saqib Ali, co-chairman of the Equality for Eid Coalition. “It’s a pretty drastic step.”
Maybe not so drastic. Liberal, multicultural activists, often aided by the American Civil Liberties Union, have turned Christmas season into a cultural clash, railing against public Nativity displays and even what they euphemistically call “holiday trees.” Some schools have not only banned Christmas carols in “Winter” concerts, but even banished red and green napkins lest they evoke the “holiday-that-must-not-be-named.”
It’s all part of the one-size, lockstep “tolerance” that destroys real diversity.
Read more: Washington Times
