The School Board of Cambridge Massachusetts has decided that it will be closing the schools on one Muslim holiday each year. The Board felt that if it closes at Christmas and on Good Friday as well as on the Jewish High Holidays, it had to close on the Muslim holiday as well. This seems incomplete to me. First, the board acknowledges that it is not closing due to the presence of large numbers of Muslims in the school populations. The closing is not a matter of avoiding empty classrooms. That means that the closing is just for religious equality. Thus, I bellieve that the school board is discriminating against the Hindu and Shinto observant population of Cambridge. After all, there are many people from India and Japan who are drawn to the great universities located in Cambridge. Why should the school board discriminate against their children? Are we to believe that there are no important holidays for Hindus or followers of the Shinto religion? And what about Atheists? How will the children of atheist families feel when there are no holidays for them? Again, I believe that the Cambridge School Board should have a day off during the year in honor of Atheism. If the Cambridge School Board were truly Progressive it would surely understand this. Instead, we must witness these acts of troglodytic discrimination by a clearly reactionary group on the board that seeks to elevate some religions over others (and the lack of religion as well).
It is a disgrace!
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