Because of the dominance of Christianity in America, public holidays have frequently matched Christian holidays - regardless of whether everyone in a given area was Christian or not. Lately that has been changing somewhat as non-Christians have asserted themselves and public officials have grown a bit more understanding of the perspective of religious minorities.

Chris Buckley writes for the Valley Independent about a proposal in Charleroi, Pennsylvania, to have the local council ask businesses to close between noon and 3 p.m. on Good Friday:

[W]hile [Mark Alterici] believes in the Good Friday tradition, the businessman and borough councilman expressed concerns about approval of a borough resolution asking merchants to close from noon to 3 p.m. Good Friday. ... While council agreed to announce that the request had been made, it stopped short of passing an actual resolution. Christians traditionally honor the period from noon and 3 p.m. - the time they believe Jesus was crucified. While Alterici supports the idea, he asked if the borough could legally support such a measure.

It's god that the council is being sensitive about this by not formally passing a resolution. Alterici seems to have right perspective: he closes during that time and seems to think that it is a good idea if others do so, but he doesn't therefore imagine that any government agency has the authority to single out Good Friday and recommend that businesses do anything to observe it.

Read More:

• Secularism 101
• Separation of Church and State 101