A Maryland county will allow Muslim and Hindu students a day off from school to celebrate Diwali and Eid al-Adha. The Howard County Board of Education faced a tough decision: to foster inclusion by removing all religious holidays from the academic calender; Or add extra days to include non-Abrahamic celebrations. A unanimous decision in favour of the latter will result in school closings or professional development days for staff in the 2016/17 academic year. The board also voted to allow staff to take a professional development day off for Lunar News Years Eve, after requests from the local Chinese and Korean communities. As it falls on a Saturday, students remain unaffected. Schools in the county have shut during Jewish holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. But a recent motion threatened to end this tradition. It proved controversial enough to attract more than 300 people to a public hearing in December. State and federal laws prevent schools from closing on religious holidays (unless mandated otherwise). Adjusting academic calenders requires a secular reason. Baltimore County had recorded a large levels of absenteeism during these Jewish holidays. Art Abramson, Executive Director of Baltimore’s Jewish Council, welcomed changes to academic calenders on the [...]
The post Asian, Muslim and Hindu holidays added to school calendars in Howard County, Maryland appeared first on Religious Reader.
Continue Reading
Donald Trump proposes a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States“. The shift in rhetoric follows the shootings in San Bernardino, California. His proposed ban would also include Muslim tourists and citizens based abroad. In a press release, Trump cited growing hatred of the United States in Muslim communities. The localities of these communities are not contingent to Trump’s argument – only a perception of truth matters. Recent data from Pew offers added nuance. It found the countries with the most unfavourable views of the United States were Jordan and Russia. Positive ratings in Turkey had increased from 19 per cent to 29 per cent. In Lebanon, 48 per cent of its Sunni Muslim population had expressed favourable views of the United States. Its Shia population, had for the most part, expressed anti-American sentiment. Other polls from Pew point to a broad rejection of terror groups like ISIS and suicide bombing among Muslims across the globe. Pew data also found that many Muslim Americans want to assimilate into American culture. It’s also noteworthy that 81 per cent of Muslim Americans hold U.S. citizenship, including 70 per cent born abroad. Foreign-born Muslims take up a higher rate of [...]
The post Why Donald Trump’s anti-Muslim rhetoric will continue to endure appeared first on Religious Reader.
Continue Reading
This briefing paper is another in the series of publications that fall into the Islamophobia and Anti-Muslim prejudice themes which Faith Matters is developing. This briefing paper looks at the individuals who were behind the recent YouTube production of the ‘Innocence of Muslims’ trailer, their motivations and their connections. The briefing paper looks at the […]
Continue Reading