In Theory: Hindu leader calls for a new holiday

A Hindu statesman is urging California public schools to declare Diwali an official holiday.

In a statement released earlier this month, Rajan Zed, president of the Universal Society of Hinduism, urged all schools to adopt the Hindu festival of lights on their 2018-19 school calendars.

“If California schools stayed closed on other religious holidays, why not Diwali?” Zed said in the statement. “Holidays of all major religions should be honored and no one should be penalized for practicing their religion.”

Q. Do you think California schools should recognize Diwali? What about other religious holidays?

I believe that a “grandfather clause” kind of solution is called for in this case. School closures for existing observances should continue, closures for newly recommend observances should not. Mr. Zed’s argument is: “If California schools stayed closed on other religious holidays, why not…?” At this point he inserts the name of his religion. If this is considered a valid reason for change, every existing religious group could use the same argument. And not to grant them their request would in fact be an unfair bias against them. Christmas and Hanukkah, Easter and Passover are deeply entrenched in American history and culture, extending far beyond what is only religious. School closures during these times are prudent, practical and wise. At the end of the day, though, Christianity’s existence and timeless ability to meet people’s deepest needs doesn’t depend upon the approval of voters, or school boards, or state senates or supreme courts. Faith in Christ ultimately depends on the historic fact that Jesus Christ died for our sins and rose again on the third day. Faith in him saves students and parents, teachers and school administrators, and everyone who turns to him.

Pastor Jon Barta
Burbank

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The question is whether California schools should recognize holidays of all faiths is a good one, but it is one that has already been answered:

(a) Notwithstanding Section 48200, a pupil shall be excused from school when the absence is:

(7) For justifiable personal reasons, including, but not limited to, observance of a holiday or ceremony of the pupil’s religion, attendance at religious retreats …

I know about this because several years ago we, members of my congregation, Temple Beth Emet of Burbank, and members of the Armenian Apstolic Church, presented this statute to the Board of Education after our children had been penalized for being absent on Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Jan. 6 (Christmas celebrated by the Armenian Apostolic Church).

Parents, if you are having trouble with the school about this, please notify your local clergy and have them present your case to the local school board and/or the state superintendent of schools in Sacramento.

Viva the 1st Amendment.

Rabbi Mark Sobel
Temple Beth Emet
Burbank

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This may be a request that is best handled at the local level, where school boards and administrators have some discretion over the holidays that are recognized. It would make sense for Diwali to be among them in areas with a large Hindu population.

Although the LDS church hasn’t taken a position on this particular issue, leaders support the right of all people to worship freely. In my view, this includes, whenever possible, enabling students to participate in the major religious celebrations of their faiths. However, the article doesn’t explain the factors that might complicate the decision for state and local school officials. It may be that creating an additional school holiday, as Rajan Zed suggests, would involve financial costs that officials are reluctant to bear.

Although some school districts have embraced Diwali, others have found alternatives that meet students’ needs. New York City, for example, opted not to recognize Dewali as a districtwide holiday, but provides an excused absence for students who take the day off. In lieu of full recognition, this might be a workable solution for California districts.

Michael White
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
La Crescenta

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There are really only two reasons to calendar a holiday shutdown, and one would be if there is some historic date of significance that connects to the whole population, like Thanksgiving or Independence Day. The other would be for an occasion that is so overwhelmingly observed whether there would be a calendared closure or not, like Christmas.

In the first example, Americans share in the national holidays because we take time to reflect on what brought us the freedoms we enjoy and the cost of procuring them. As a people, we need such times to keep us connected together and to remember who we are despite our diversity.

The reason that such a day as Christmas goes on the public calendar is because the vast majority of the public celebrates Christmas and will not go out on that day. All of this public school concern is only because it is a government-run institution, just like the U.S. Postal Service and City Hall. You simply cannot run the local government, the mail services, or educate children if there is nobody there to do the jobs or receive the services, so you declare it an official holiday.

Now, the population of the United States is a little more than 300 million; the vast majority of that number identifies as Christian and observes Christmas. Of those who are not self-described Christians, few would skip Christmas since most of their family and friends will be celebrating. If it were not an official day off, it would be an unofficial “sick day” for most. So it makes no sense having schools or other government agencies waste money trying to keep the lights on during that day. On the other hand, Hindus in America represent less than one percent of our entire population. If all of them decided to take a day off to worship one of their myriad deities, America would hardly notice, and so declaring a national Hindu holiday here is most unreasonable.

Hinduism was not a contributor to Western Culture, and it contradicts the Christianity that made us what we are. It’s our Christian component that allows freedom of religion for minorities, but that doesn’t mean we ought to accommodate their every request for national observance. And this newly contentious player in the debate, the “Universal Society of Hinduism,” which was started just five years ago in Reno, recently joined forces with the Satanic Temple and a group of atheists to have a Hindu monkey god erected near a Ten Commandments monument in Arkansas. For Christians (most of us) the idea of displaying a Hindu idol in the shape of an animal is not only unwelcome, it is biblically forbidden and deemed sinful and foolish (Romans 1:22-23). The same goes for related holidays.

Rev. Bryan A. Griem
Tujunga