11.12.2007
Britain Finds a Way (To Give you a Holiday)
There was quite a bit of reporting recently on the decision by Marshall University to allow excused absences for Pagan holidays. It prompted discussion on how such a system would work, and if it could be abused. Can the variety of holy days from modern Pagan religions be reasonably fit into a largely Christian-oriented holiday calendar? What about Hindu, Buddhist, or Muslim holy days? Would inefficiency reign as every faith demanded their holidays be honored?
Leave it to Britain, where the influence of minority religions are more keenly felt, to come up with a compromise measure to address the growing numbers of non-Christian workers.
"Civil servants will be able to take bank holidays on the religious days of their choice under moves to introduce "cultural flexitime". Officials in the education department will be allowed to work from home on statutory days off and take the time owed to mark their own religious traditions. It means staff will be able to work at home on Christmas Day for the first time this year and swap it for a different religious festival such as Eid or Diwali. The pioneering arrangements also apply to cultural traditions, meaning a Welsh employee could move a bank holiday to St David's Day ... The arrangements also apply to minority religions such as Baha'i and Zoroastrianism, and staff could ask for time off to mark pagan festivals such as the summer solstice ... Staff choosing to swap bank holidays for other key dates will not be required to prove that they follow a different faith."
With the growing adoption of "cultural flexitime", Britain is slowly moving into adopting a post-Christian calendar. For instance, while Christmas may be one of the most important Christian holidays (next to Easter), Yule as celebrated by some Pagans, or Hanukkah as celebrated by most Jews, don't hold the same level of importance in their ritual years as other holy days. In this new "flexitime" scenario, a non-Christian could work through the winter holidays and instead take time off for Samhain or Yom Kippur instead. No questions asked.
As this system gains in popularity, it will no doubt be adopted by civil and private businesses in America as well. Especially if it is painted as a way to solve all the holiday "problems" caused by the needs of religious minority workers. In the long run it could mean a more secular society as religious observance becomes are more private affair, and less an assumed cultural norm for everyone. Christianity will still be dominant in numbers and influence, but it could slowly cease to be seen as the only religion that "matters" when asking for a day off of work or school.
Labels: cultural flexitime, holidays, Marshall University, Paganism, UK
Comments:
The US Federal government currently has a similar policy, where you can work 'religious comp time' and bank it toward taking time off for observances that aren't already granted as Federal Holidays. In theory, a person of any religious persuasion can use this system; in practice though, if you aren't Christian or Jewish it tends to get a little tricky. Like the UK policy, you are not supposed to be required to prove anything about your beliefs, but when I applied to take the Equinox & Solstice holidays off, I did run into some flack, from a boss that was admittedly unpleasant in general. It isn't a policy that is widely known - I only became aware of it when I was working as a timekeeper and had to learn all the different types of leave.
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The US Federal government currently has a similar policy, where you can work 'religious comp time' and bank it toward taking time off for observances that aren't already granted as Federal Holidays. In theory, a person of any religious persuasion can use this system; in practice though, if you aren't Christian or Jewish it tends to get a little tricky. Like the UK policy, you are not supposed to be required to prove anything about your beliefs, but when I applied to take the Equinox & Solstice holidays off, I did run into some flack, from a boss that was admittedly unpleasant in general. It isn't a policy that is widely known - I only became aware of it when I was working as a timekeeper and had to learn all the different types of leave.
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