Muslim holiday?
October 14, 2009
German politicians and religious organizations broadly shot down a proposal by Germany's Turkish Community (TGD) for schools to close one day out of the year to observe a Muslim holiday.
The head of the TGD, Kenan Kolat prompted the debate when he suggested that the Muslim festival of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan, could become a school holiday for all students.
"That would be a sign of tolerance," Kolat said in comments published in the Tuesday edition of the German daily Berliner Zeitung.
The Central Council of Jews supported Kolat's proposal, and suggested that the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur be observed by schools as well.
However, many politicians and church representatives, as well as the Central Council of Muslims, came out against the idea.
"I see no reason to turn this day (Eid al-Fitr) into a general school holiday or bank holiday for everybody," Aiman Mazyek, secretary general of the Central Council of Muslims told German press agency dpa, saying it was good enough that Muslim students were excused from attending school on their religious holidays.
The chairman of Germany's Protesant Church, Bishop Wolfgang Huber, told Wednesday's edition of the daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that there was a "priority for Christian holidays in the culture of our country" based on millennia of Christian influence in Germany.
The education ministry in the state of Brandenburg said tolerance could be achieved in other ways. Green party parliamentarian Christian Stroebele, on the other hand, expressed interest in discussing the proposal further.
An estimated 3.8 to 4.3 million Muslims live in Germany.
vj/dpa/epd
Editor: Trinity Hartman