The bill authorizes public schools to ‘acknowledge and celebrate’ Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha in the curriculum.
By Catholics for Catholics
California may soon have two new state authorized religious holidays. Muslim holy days.
California lawmakers are promoting a new bill that would impose two Muslim holy days as official holidays while permitting the state to create a new model curriculum for students to “acknowledge and celebrate” these religious practices at schools, according to a story by Fox News.
The State Assembly passed bill AB 2017 with a 64-1 vote and advanced to the Senate Appropriations Committee on Wednesday. The author is Assemblyman Matt Haney, D-San Francisco.
Haney’s bill establishes Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha — two major holidays celebrated by Muslims around the world — as official state holidays and permits local public school boards and community colleges the choice to shut down their campuses for both holidays.
Though the two holidays are traditionally celebrated over three to four days, the legislation chooses a single day of observance for each on the state calendar.
The legislation is geared toward protecting religious diversity and recognizing the traditions of the state’s 500,000 Muslim residents, Haney said.
“California is home to one of the largest and most vibrant Muslim communities in the country, and their traditions deserve recognition and respect,” Haney said in a press release.
“No student should have to choose between celebrating one of the holiest days of their faith and showing up to school, and no worker should feel they have to sacrifice their religious observance,” he continued. “AB 2017 is about making sure Muslim Californians are seen, valued, and treated with the same dignity as every other community in our state.”
Yet, an almost-hidden provision in the bill’s text would bring the celebration of these religious holidays into the classroom and has drawn criticism from a prominent conservative advocacy group.
According to the text of AB 2017, public schools opting to observe the days can include exercises “acknowledging and celebrating the meaning and importance” of Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha.
The bill authorizes the State Board of Education to create a model curriculum guide for these exercises, which would be funded through existing resources.
“This is not about teaching, this is encouraging the celebration of a religious holiday,” Greg Burt, vice president of the California Family Council, told Fox News Digital. “What happened to neutrality? It doesn’t make any sense.”
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