Secularizing Good Friday
Years ago, I used to work at a small hospital where all of the employees knew each other. The spirit of the doctor who had founded that hospital was still very much alive and so was his tradition of giving all of the employees Good Friday off.
When the hospital merged with a larger health system, the observance of Good Friday disappeared. At every job I’ve had since, I’ve taken the day off as a religious observance. For many Christians, Good Friday is a day of prayer and reflection at home and in church.
Not so for school boards in the Tampa Bay area. Spring break, which used to coincide with the week before Easter, is now two weeks prior. Good Friday is just another day in school for our kids.
Good Friday has been killed by political correctness. Secular institutions are so sensitive to the fact that non-Christians might be offended by a solemn day for the Christian majority that they’re bending over backwards to appear non-partisan.
The only concession to one of Christianity’s days of prayer is to let parents know that Good Friday is a “special observance day” like the Muslim Eid-al-Fitr, which is probably observed by a handful of kids in our children’s school. Those “special observance days” don’t count against a student’s attendance record, but schools are open and teachers don’t have the opportunity to commemorate Good Friday unless they take the day off. (Sorry, Wiccans, you’re not covered by these special days. Go complain to the school board that you’re not being respected.)
Spring break used to cover Good Friday, but there was such a rush to not appear that schools were favoring Christians that the week off was moved. When the school calendar was politically corrected to exclude Good Friday, we chose not to send our children to school that day. On the Monday after Easter, they told us that friends who had attended school sat in almost deserted classrooms watching movies or playing games. In other words, teachers provided free babysitting for students with our tax dollars.
Good Friday means something to Christians, but Christians don’t mean much to institutions anymore. A meaningless spring break week and a Good Friday with an empty class where kids are goofing off is worth more to school administrators than a recognition that there are days that are solemn to a majority of the families in their district.
At 3 p.m. on Good Friday, my children could be in school watching an inane movie or they could be in church. Guess which activity we’re choosing.
