presidents day, memorial day, labor day, forth of july, even valentines day (the story is a myth people, not a religious holiday) are all holidays that are not religious.
Any other religion has paid leave on their holidays, since I record that for payroll, I know this for a fact. The only religious holiday where work is suspended is Christmas. Anything open on a Sunday (or a Saturday, both make up the weekend) is a private business and has the option of closing if they wish or not. Good Friday is a religious day but not a government holiday.
Not sure what the point here is, but oh well, have fun.
Where do we all end up thinking that "secular" means whitewashed of all religion? That is your error in interpretation of what secular means to us. The original founders of the country had two goals. To provide absolute freedom to worship your relgion, and to prevent the Government from persecuting minority religions. It provided the ability for all to outwardly celebrate thier own relgion.
Only later did Atheists claim that the outward celebration of religion violated THEIR rights. The original Founding Fathers proclaimed religious tollerance in all regards, as evidenced by some of the early letters to the Hebrew congregations.
damn it, aap ko aam khanay say matlab hai ya paer ginnay say (translattion, are you concerned with counting the trees or eating the mangoes)
I want there to be more official holidays on religious occassions for all religions. :) join my my vacation and holiday loving friends and lets make a change for the better, I want chirstmas off, hanukkah, eid and divali...
OG, some Desis think secularism is a different way to ride a bicycle. In their own country they can’t even afford to eat two decent meals a day, and come here and give lectures to others on what cycleism is. The complainers will always find something to complain, don’t all days have some sort of religious significance?
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The chakra is Ashoka chakra.. it is not a hindu religious symbol. and people taking oath.. could do it either in the god name or just oath. The communist take oath without the mention of any God. Hindus and Christians take oath in the name of GOD. And Muslim take the oath in the name of Allah.
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The particular Chakra featured on the Indian flag is Buddhist but the idea of Chakras forming 'power points' at certain parts of the body is from Hindu scriptures namely the Upanishads.
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U should define secularism first. Is secularism.. Means not to practice any religion or is it to give equal importance to every religion.
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Remember we're talking about the state and not it's citizens. My understanding of it is that the citizens are allowed to practice whatever faith they please but officially the state is not partial to any one over or above another.
But secular governments also are representative of thier people. Should Washington DC be devoid of all religious monuments, or filled with many monuments from whatever relgion chooses to erect them? If you look back at the founding of the country, the goal was to prevent persecution, and to allow freedom. So long as the celebration of religion does not interfere with the rights of others. So presumably a Christian would take the oath of office by holding his hand over a Bible. A Jew might use a torah, and Muslim take his oath on a Quran. The point is not to purge the citizenry of religion, but to enable all to worship in thier own way. The Founding Fathers would have rebelled if the colonists forced Jews to attend churches on Christmas day. They would consider a special tax on Muslims to be persecution. They wanted religion to go forward full force.
Because many of them had been persecuted in their home lands, many were very dedicated to the proposition of a country that not just allowed freedom of religion, but one that fully expected that relgion would flourish without government constraints. They expected America to become a very religious place, and that the government would both reflect the religious nature of her people, but would never provide a barrier to religious worship.
That is completely different from being "impartial". The goal was freedom for all, persecution for none. It is supposed to be a place where elected officals are free to profess their faith, so long as it does not interfere with the rights of others.
I dont want to force me beliefs on anyone, and nither do I want someoen to force their faith on me, whether individual or state. People should be able to privately follow their faith and traditions.
OG, thanks.
ranjhan, i dont think i said that i dont want holidays (the more the better)nor was i putting any religion down. it was just a random question. i enjoy all the religious events, whether its christmas, or dewali or eid, add hanuka to it too. p.s i dont even know what the jizya stuff is.
frauds, we shud have more AAm with or without gutliyaN.
and as far as chakra goes. was'nt she a singer from peshawar chakra khan?? who sang a song " I feel for you"
Chakra--Chakra--Chakra--Chakra
Chakra Khan
Chakra Khan
Chakra Khan
Chakra Khan, let me rock you Let me rock you, Chakra Khan
Let me rock you, that's all I wanna do
Chakra Khan, let me rock you Let me rock you, Chakra Khan
Let me rock you, 'cause I feel for you
Chakra Khan, won't you tell me what you wanna do
Do you feel for me the way I feel for you
Chakra Khan, let me tell you what I wanna do
I wanna love you, wanna hug you, wanna squeeze you too
Let me take you in my arms
Let me fill you with my charms, Chakra
Cuz you know that I'm the one to keep you warm, Chakra
I'll make it more than just a physical dream
I wanna rock you, Chakra baby, cuz you make me wanna scream
Let me rock you -- rock you
Secularism has various variations, communism was a more pure form of it..(as in the banning of religion), Britain has a separation of powers but acknowledges the Church of England as defining the official religion. The USA, I believe does not believe in a single established religion..(it's constitution and the philosophy behind it are probably more an article of faith for the masses)..and the US does not have a negative view of specifically sects in Christianity which contrasts them with the French.
