Posted on 09/27/2013 7:31:48 PM PDT by marshmallow
A French official has sparked controversy by suggesting that two Christian public holidays should be removed and replaced by ones marking the Jewish festival of Yom Kippur and the Muslim festival of Eid.
A proposal by a French official to replace Christian national holidays with those based on Jewish and Muslim festivals has sparked controversy in the country.
Dounia Bouzar, an anthropologist specialising in religion who was recently appointed to France’s National Observatory on Secularism, put forward the proposal in an interview with France’s Challenges magazine on Monday.
“At the moment, every French person celebrates Christmas, and I think it should be the case that we include one Muslim festival and one Jewish festival among our national holidays,” she said.
Rather than adding new holidays to the calendar, Bouzar suggested replacing two unspecified Christian public holidays with ones marking the Jewish festival of Yom Kippur and the Muslim festival of Eid.
France often prides its strong secular ideals and has strict laws enforcing the separation of religion and the state. Nevertheless, the majority of its national holidays are based on Christian festivals.
“Today, French Jews and Muslims are very uncomfortable asking for days off to celebrate these two very important holidays [of Yom Kippur and Eid],” said Bouzar.
“A Jewish holiday and a Muslim holiday becoming a celebration for all the French would fight sectarianism and advance the cause of secularism,” she added.
(Excerpt) Read more at france24.com ...
France needs to celebrate the glassification of Mecca.
Barf...just more proof the end is near
“Two unspecified Christian public holidays?” How many Christian public holidays do they have lying around there? Do we have any others besides Christmas and Thanksgiving?
The device used at the trinity site had a copper containment vessel, it fused green glass from the white sands.
Wonder what one housed in Stainless Steel and imploded on the black rock would yield?
They should sell that stuff by the polished cubic inch to lower the debt.
Celebrate Charles Martel’s victory on October 25, 732 over the Moors. Very French/Frankish and very much the promotion of liberte.
just a silly question.
Shouldn’t we emulate countries or cultures that we admire?
I don’t see a whole lot worthy of praise coming from the Middle East. They really have nothing worthwhile that makes any civilized man say “Golly, that sure is neat. I wish my country/culture had something like that”. I can point to some Asian, Hindi and even Russian cultural aspects that are praiseworthy. Islamic - not so much.
We are rushing to embrace Spanish in our schools. Why? Because every spanish speaking country on the globe is over-ran with ignorance, out of control reproduction, drugs, thugs, corruption and suppression of the few good men. What about those trait is something we wish to incorporate into our culture? What is there to admire about Mexico and every other 3rd world Banana Republic? Because they are over-ran with people, each a monument to ignorance; isn’t a reason to embrace them.
How about teaching languages from countries that are moving FORWARD, instead of dragging themselves (and us) backward? How about teaching our students Chinese, Japanese, Hindi or even Russian? Unless I need to speak to my gardener, or order food in a fast food restaurant; the need for Spanish just isn’t there.
But, if I need to speak to a doctor, programmer, engineer, chemist or other professional in their native language ... the odds are “sure as hell” that this individual won’t likely be a native spanish speaker.
Sacre bleu!
I think he meant to say a festivus for the rest of us.
ROFLMAO!!!! Good one. Thanks, I need that.
| Date | English name | Local name | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 January | New Year's Day | Premier de l'an / Jour de l' an | |
| moveable | Good Friday | Vendredi Saint | Friday before Easter (observed only in Alsace and Moselle) |
| moveable | Easter Monday | Lundi de Pâques | Monday after Easter (one day after Easter) |
| 1 May | May Day/Labour Day | Fête du Travail | |
| 8 May | Victory in Europe Day | Victoire 1945 | End of hostilities in Europe in World War II |
| moveable | Ascension Day | Ascension | Thursday, 39 days after Easter |
| moveable | Whit Monday | Lundi de Pentecôte | Monday after Pentecost (49 days after Easter) |
| 14 July | Bastille Day | Fête Nationale | National Day |
| 15 August | Assumption of Mary to Heaven | Assomption | |
| 1 November | All Saints' Day | Toussaint | |
| 11 November | Veterans Day Armistice Day Remembrance Day |
Armistice 1918 | End of World War I |
| 25 December | Christmas Day | Noël | |
| 26 December | St. Stephen's Day | Saint Etienne | Observed only in Alsace and Moselle |
The Christian holidays for the full country are: Monday after Easter, Ascension, Whit Monday, Assumption of Mary, All Saints' and Christmas. Assuming they want to keep Christmas, which two of the remaining five will be forcibly converted?
Christmas, Good Friday and Easter are the only holidays that are recognized in most places. Of these, only Christmas warrants a “Public Holiday”, as Easter always falls on a Sunday, and Friday is typically only celebrated by a select few religions in a service.
One could argue that Thanksgiving is Deist rather than Christian. The Pilgrims gave thanks to God for their bounty and survival. The role of Christ, while important, may or may not have been significant.
I see no reason why either a Jewish or Muslim person would find offence with giving thanks to God.
I'll have a couple of hot cross buns, please.
Red tint from the Iron? Yellow from Cr? Depends on the SS alloy as to the Ni content.
Most Jewish people I know don’t. But too many Muslims don’t just take offense, they find it worth slaying you over because it’s the “wrong” God.
Now think of this, that first implosion device was not a hydrogen bomb. It was a fission device, not a fusion device.
How much more would be vaporized totally with modern nukes? It may be that there would be no trace of the container, since the container is much smaller now than the original at White Sands and The yield is so much larger.
I could support adding Yom Kippur if I were French, but taking away Christmas and Easter (Passover) to do so would be wrong, and certainly not add El Cid!
Jews, for the most part, could care less if a national holiday celebrates their religious holidays ... they will celebrate based on their calendar. For the most part, most would rather not have national recognition ... leads to a spotlight they would rather not have pointed at them.
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