RELIGIOUS HOLIDAYS
RECOGNIZED BY
U.S. GOVERNMENTS
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Quote:
"To evaluate (this) claim ... we must venture into the often-dreaded
and certainly murky area of Establishment Clause jurisprudence..." 4th
U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Koenick vs. Felton.
Overview:
The Establishment Clause of the 1st
Amendment of the U.S. constitution, as interpreted by the U.S. Supreme
Court, requires a wall of separation between church and state. This means
that federal, state and local governments cannot establish an
official religion; they cannot impede religious expression; they cannot
promote religion as superior to secularism or vice-versa. However, one of
the functions of the
federal, state and local governments and the public school systems is to declare holidays. Three of them have
significant religious connotations: Easter,
Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Although Thanksgiving has been essentially
secularized, Christmas and Easter have retained much of their religious
meaning. Thus, we find the term "C & E Christian" in common
use. It refers to a
person who attends church only on Christmas and Easter.
Some attempts have
been made to have the declaration of these holidays declared
unconstitutional. So far, results have been mixed.
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Origins of the timing of Christmas and Easter:
Christmas: The name is an
abbreviation of "Christ's Mass."
Numerous religions within the
Roman Empire honored their gods' birth or rebirth on or about DEC-25. Their
deities were typically called: Son of Man, Light of the World, Sun of
Righteousness, Bridegroom, and Savior. Some examples within Pagan
religions were the Roman god Attis, the Greek god Dionysus, the Egyptian god
Osiris, and the Persian god Mithra. The Roman Emperor Aurelian blended the
religious celebration of Saturnalia with a number of birth celebrations of
savior Gods from other religions, into a single holy day: DEC-25. After much
argument, the developing Christian church adopted this date as the birthday of
their savior, Jesus. The people of the Roman Empire were accustomed to
celebrating the birth of a God on that day. So, it was easy for the church to
divert people's attention away from Pagan celebration and to the Jesus'
birth.
The Gospel of Luke 1:5 refers to
a time when Zacharias' was on duty in the Temple. From this reference, one can
compute that Jesus was born in the early fall. But Luke 2:8 seems to imply that
Jesus was born in the springtime when the sheep were giving birth and the
shepherds were "in the field keeping watch over their flocks by night."
Since nobody at the time of Aurelian still remembered when Jesus was born,
DEC-25 was as good as any other day to celebrate Jesus' birth. More
details.
Easter was named after
Eostre (a.k.a. Eastre). She was the Great Mother Goddess of the Saxon people in
Northern Europe. Similar "Teutonic dawn goddess of fertility
[were] known variously as Ostare, Ostara, Ostern, Eostra, Eostre, Eostur, Eastra,
Eastur, Austron and Ausos." 3 Her name was, in turn,
derived from an ancient word for spring: "eastre." The timing of the
Christian Easter is linked to the Jewish celebration of the Passover. Passover
and the Feast of Unleavened Bread which were observed by the ancient
Israelites early in each new year. (The Jewish people followed the Pagan
Persian/Babylonian calendar and started each year with the Spring Equinox circa
MAR-21). Passover was the most important feast of the Jewish calendar. It was
originally based on Pagan sun and moon worship. This determined its timing. It
is celebrated at the first full moon after the Vernal Equinox. More
details.
How Santa saved Christmas vacation for federal
employees:
The United States Code, section 5 USC 6103 declares ten
national, legal, public holidays, one of which is Christmas. Cincinnati attorney Richard Ganulin filed a
lawsuit on 1998-AUG-4 in U.S. district court, 1 asking
that the federal government be required to stop declaring future DEC-25
holidays. His goal was not to terminate Christmas. He wants Federal
Employees to be given an extra vacation day which they could take on DEC-25,
or on any other day if they wished. He feels that "Christmas is a religious holiday and the
Congress of the United States is not constitutionally permitted to endorse
or aid any religion, purposefully or otherwise, or [promote] entanglement
between our government and religious beliefs." Judge Susan
Dlott dismissed the suit. According to ReligionToday for
1999-DEC-8, Judge Dlott decided "that Christmas can be observed as
a federal holiday because non-Christians also mark the holiday by
celebrating the arrival of Santa Claus. Since nonreligious people also
observe the holiday, giving federal workers a day off for Christmas does
not elevate one religion over another." Ganulin has
promised to appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Santa Claus has at least temporarily saved Christmas, both for
Christians and for others!
How travel plans, "shop 'till you drop" (and perhaps the Easter
Bunny) saved Easter:
According to American Atheists, in 2000-JAN, 12 states (DE, FL, HI, IL, IN, LA,
MD, NJ, NC, ND, PA, and TN) have a law that deals with a Good Friday holiday in
public schools, and state offices. But the constitutionality of
religiously-based holidays remains unclear.
Some recent court decisions are:
 | 1991: Both a federal district court and the 9th U.S. Circuit Court
ruled that a state declaration of a legal holiday on Good Friday was
constitutional. Their ruling noted that the holiday "has become a
popular shopping day in Hawaii and businesses have benefited from the
three-day weekend created as a result of the holiday...Citizens are better
able to enjoy the many recreational opportunities available in Hawaii." |
| 1995: The 7th District Court of Appeals overturned on
constitutional grounds a state law which ordered public schools to close on
Good Friday. The ruling stated, in part, "The First Amendment does
not allow a state to make it easier for adherents of one faith to practice
their religion than for adherents of another faith to practice their
religion unless there is a secular justification for the difference in
treatment." |
| 1995: A federal judge and, later, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court ruled
on a Illinois Good Friday law passed in 1941. They found that the "legislature
had acted improperly in declaring the day as a school holiday." 2 |
| 1998: In the case BRIDENBAUGH vs. O'BANNON, the plaintiff
claimed that an Indiana Good Friday "established a religious holiday
as a state holiday and represents the state favoring one religion over
another and over non-religion." The court disagreed, saying
that the holiday served the secular purpose of giving state employees a day
off work, and that the holiday had been sufficiently diluted of religious
contents by having been referred to as the "spring" holiday. 2 |
| 1999: Judith Koenick, a retired Maryland public
school teacher claimed that the state's 1865 Good Friday law "sends a message of
inclusion to Christian schoolchildren and a message of exclusion to
their Jewish, Muslim and non-believing classmates." Her attorneys
asked a U.S. Circuit Court "to bring order to the lower courts' chaotic decisions
concerning governmental recognition of Good Friday." Lawyers for the Montgomery
County Board of Education claimed that the statute "is anchored around
the increasingly secularized holiday of Easter, which is a traditional
time for Marylanders, like other Americans, to begin Easter-related
travel." The court confirmed a 1997 U.S. 4th Circuit Court of
Appeals ruling which found the law to be constitutional. The Circuit Court
ruling commented: "A statute whose primary effect
is to advance a secular purpose, rather than a religious one, is still
constitutional even if it conveys an incidental benefit to those of a
specific religion..." An Easter holiday "does not mention or imply that the
holiday is to be spent attending religious services in recognition of
this Christian holy day. The statute merely gives people the days off
to spend as they like..."
The ruling noted that:
 | If the holiday were not observed in the schools, classes would have a
very high absentee rate. |
| The law had a secular purpose in that it gave a day off work for state
employees. |
| The holiday is part of a larger, secular, vacation period observed
each spring. |
| If the holiday were not observed, then the schools would have to go to
the additional expense of hiring replacement teachers to fill in for
teachers that observed the holiday. |
The U.S. Supreme Court decided on 2000-JAN-19 to not review the Circuit
Court decision. |
References:
- "Ganulin files latest response in Christmas lawsuit,"
at: http://www.atheists.org/flash.line/ganul2.htm
- "SUPREME COURT SUPPORTS LOWER RULING, GOOD FRIDAY CLOSINGS,"
AANEWS release, 2000-JAN-19.
- Larry Boemler "Asherah and Easter," Biblical
Archaeology Review, Vol. 18, Number 3, 1992-May/June reprinted at: http://www.worldmissions.org/Clipper/Holidays/
Copyright © 2000 by Ontario Consultants on Religious
Tolerance
Originally written: 2000-JAN-20
Latest update: 2000-JAN-20
Author: B.A. Robinson
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