Government Observances of Good Friday & Easter
Do they violate the Separation of Church and State?
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Can the government take a religious holiday and make an official state holiday out of it? Is it an establishment of religion when a religious holy day becomes an official state holiday? Good Friday is a Christian Holy Day which many Christians would surely like to have off from work or school, but does that mean that governments should grant it official recognition over and above the holy days of other religions?
These are the sorts of questions which many courts acround the country have had to wrestle with. Although such holidays were often accepted as a matter of course in the past, recently more and more people have begun to object to what they perceive as unfair favoritism being shown towards Christianity and Christian beliefs. Because of this, they are challenging the practice of accommodating Christian beliefs in ways not generally accepted for the beliefs of other religions - but with mixed results.
-->Constitutional Questions
When people challenge state and local laws or policies which create holidays on Good Friday, they are arguing that such actions violate the separation of church and state - a constitutional requirement that the government of all citizens not pursue policies or goals which favor the religion of some citizens over the religions of others. The question is, are such arguments sound? Is there a case to be made that making Good Friday a public or school holiday is unconstitutional?The State of the Law
Where does the law currently stand with regards to official government observances of the Christian holy days of Good Friday and Easter? What are governments allowed and not allowed to do? What are schools allowed to do and what rights to students have?Major Court Cases
A review of the major court cases from the Seventh, Fourth, and Sixth Circuilt Courts of Appeals, all dealing with the question of whether a government may declare a Holy Day from a particular religion to be an official or school holiday. Different courts have arrived at different decisions, but the principles used in those decisions have been very similar.
